Volumetric budget based irrigation control

ABSTRACT

The present embodiments provide systems, processes and/or methods of controlling irrigation. In some embodiments, methods are provided that receive ( 4112 ) water usage information corresponding to a first volumetric water usage at a site location having an irrigation controller ( 130 ), wherein the first volumetric water usage corresponds to volumetric water usage from a beginning of a budget period of time to a first time within the budget period of time; determine ( 4114 ) automatically whether a volumetric water budget at the site location will be met for the budget period of time based on at least the first volumetric water usage, the volumetric water budget corresponding to a specified volume of water for use during the budget period of time; determine ( 4116 ) automatically, in the event the volumetric water budget will not be met, an adjustment to the irrigation by the irrigation controller; and output ( 4118 ) signaling to effect the adjustment.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/218,202 filed Dec. 12, 2018 entitled VOLUMETRIC BUDGET BASEDIRRIGATION CONTROL which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/989,771 filed Jan. 6, 2016 entitled VOLUMETRIC BUDGET BASEDIRRIGATION CONTROL which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/500,882 filed Jun. 4, 2012, entitled VOLUMETRIC BUDGET BASEDIRRIGATION CONTROL, which is the U.S. National Stage of InternationalApplication Serial No. PCT/US2010/051699 filed Oct. 6, 2010 and entitledVOLUMETRIC BUDGET BASED IRRIGATION CONTROL, which claims the benefit ofall three of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/249,519, filed Oct. 7,2009, by Snider et al., entitled VOLUMETRIC BUDGET BASED IRRIGATIONCONTROL, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/261,685, filed Nov. 16,2009, by Snider et al., entitled VOLUMETRIC BUDGET BASED IRRIGATIONCONTROL, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/322,710, filed Apr. 9,2010, by Snider et al., entitled VOLUMETRIC BUDGET BASED IRRIGATIONCONTROL, all of which are incorporated in their entirety herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to irrigation control, and morespecifically to irrigation controllers that control irrigation.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

Water continues to be a precious commodity. Further, the conservation ofwater continues to be a topic of great interest to governments, waterauthorities, municipalities, farms, corporations, and individualconsumers. Additionally, as the true cost of water becomes betterunderstood, the price of water continues to rise, making conservation ofwater more important to all stakeholders.

Municipalities, water districts, and other agencies that supply water toconsumers sometimes regulate the distribution of water in attempts toconserve water, reduce water usage, maintain water reserves as well asfor numerous other reasons. Methods used to regulate water distributionoften involve restrictions on the use of water for irrigation,restrictions on the on the periods during which water can be used forirrigation, and cost increases when water use is exceeded and other suchmethods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Several embodiments of the invention advantageously address the needsabove as well as other needs by providing methods of controllingirrigation, at least in part, by receiving water usage informationcorresponding to a first volumetric water usage at a site locationhaving an irrigation controller, wherein the first volumetric waterusage corresponds to volumetric water usage from a beginning of a budgetperiod of time to a first time within the budget period of time;determining automatically whether a volumetric water budget at the sitelocation will be met for the budget period of time based on at least thefirst volumetric water usage, the volumetric water budget correspondingto a specified volume of water for use during the budget period of time;determining automatically, in the event the volumetric water budget willnot be met, an adjustment to the irrigation by the irrigationcontroller; and outputting signaling to effect the adjustment.

Other embodiments provide apparatuses for use in controlling irrigation.Some of these embodiments comprise a processor; and a memory that storesexecutable program code, wherein the processor is configured to executethe executable program code to: receive water usage informationcorresponding to a first volumetric water usage at a site locationhaving an irrigation controller, wherein the first volumetric waterusage corresponds to volumetric water usage from a beginning of a budgetperiod of time to a first time within the budget period of time;determine automatically whether a volumetric water budget at the sitelocation will be met for the budget period of time based on at least thefirst volumetric water usage, the volumetric water budget correspondingto a specified volume of water for use during the budget period of time;determine automatically, in the event the volumetric water budget willnot be met, an adjustment to irrigation by the irrigation controller;and output signaling to effect the adjustment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of severalembodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from thefollowing more particular description thereof, presented in conjunctionwith the following drawings.

FIG. 1 depicts a simplified diagram of a system according to someembodiments that implements water irrigation according to one or morevolumetric water budgets or fixed volumes of water.

FIG. 2 depicts a simplified diagram of the irrigation system of FIG. 1according to some embodiments where a water flow meter is coupled withthe irrigation controller over a wired or other such communication path.

FIG. 3 depicts a simplified diagram of the irrigation system of FIG. 1associated with one or more buildings.

FIG. 4 depicts a simplified diagram of the irrigation system of FIG. 1associated with the building and having a separate meter and valve.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified diagram of an example irrigation systemaccording to some embodiments where the irrigation controller is inwireless communication with one or more valves.

FIG. 6 depicts a simplified diagram of a system according to someembodiments that includes a central irrigation controller and one ormore satellite irrigation controllers.

FIG. 7A depicts a simplified diagram of a system according to someembodiments where irrigation is controlled with some collectivecooperation across multiple meters and/or irrigation controllers.

FIG. 7B depicts a simplified diagram of an irrigation system with acentral irrigation controller in communication with a plurality ofsub-controllers or satellite controllers.

FIG. 7C depicts a simplified diagram of an irrigation system accordingto some embodiments where irrigation is controlled through a distributedcentral irrigation controller in communication with one or moreirrigation controllers or in some instances satellite controllers.

FIG. 8A depicts a simplified block diagram of an irrigation controlleraccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 8B depicts a simplified block diagram of an irrigation controlleraccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 9A depicts a simplified block diagram of an example implementationof a separate display device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 9B depicts a simplified block diagram of an implementation of aseparate display device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 10A depicts a simplified block diagram of an example implementationof a communication device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 10B depicts a simplified block diagram of an implementation of acommunication device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 11A depicts a simplified block diagram of an example meteraccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 11B depicts a simplified block diagram of an implementation of awater flow meter according to some embodiments.

FIG. 12A depicts a simplified block diagram of a notification systemaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 12B depicts a simplified diagram of a system according to someembodiments that implements water irrigation according to one or morevolumetric water budgets or fixed volumes of water.

FIG. 13 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process for use incontrolling irrigation relative to a water budget.

FIG. 14 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process, according tosome embodiments, to determine the current water usage relative to acurrent budget period.

FIG. 15 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an example process used inevaluating the received or determined water usage relative to a waterbudget according to some embodiments.

FIG. 16 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process, according tosome embodiments, for use in predicting whether continued water use mayexceed one or more specified water budgets over relevant budget periods.

FIG. 17 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process, according tosome embodiments, used in predicting an amount of water use over thebudget period or a remainder of a budget period.

FIG. 18A depicts a simplified flow diagram of an additional oralternative process, according to some embodiments, used in predictingan amount of water use over a budget period or a remainder of a budgetperiod.

FIG. 18B depicts a simplified flow diagram of an additional oralternative process, according to some embodiments, used in predictingan amount of water use over a budget period or a remainder of a budgetperiod.

FIG. 19 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an additional oralternative process, according to some embodiments, used in predictingan amount of water consumption over a budget period or a remainder of abudget period as a function of ET data.

FIG. 20 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an example process that canbe employed to determine non-irrigation water usage.

FIG. 21 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an exemplary process thatcan be implemented, in accordance with some embodiments, to determinenon-irrigation water usage while irrigation is active during anirrigation cycle or period.

FIG. 22 shows a simplified flow diagram of a process, according to someembodiments, for use in determining whether irrigation should beadjusted based on a prediction of whether the water budget may beexceeded.

FIG. 23 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process, according tosome embodiments, of adjusting irrigation, for example, in response topredicting that a water budget may be exceeded during a correspondingbudget period.

FIG. 24 depicts a simplified flow diagram of one exemplary process,according to some embodiments, of determining how to distribute thereductions in water usage to compensate for the predicted excess waterusage.

FIG. 25 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an exemplary process,according to some embodiments, of adjusting irrigation in response todetermining that predicted water usage is not expected to exceed thewater budget during the corresponding budget period.

FIG. 26A depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process according tosome embodiments to capitalize on under used water, reducing water usagebelow the water budget and/or control costs relative to water usage.

FIG. 26B depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process according tosome embodiments to increase a water budget.

FIG. 27 depicts a simplified diagram of an exemplary user interface ofan irrigation controller according to some embodiments.

FIG. 28 depicts a simplified diagram of a representative display deviceaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 29 depicts a simplified display screen displaying the user optionsand a notification.

FIG. 30 depicts a display screen, according to some embodiments,displaying additional water usage and budget information.

FIG. 31 depicts a simplified display screen, according to someembodiments, displaying an example of a budget information table.

FIG. 32 depicts a simplified display screen, according to someembodiments, displaying an additional example of a budget informationtable.

FIG. 33 depicts a simplified display screen, according to someembodiments, displaying an example of a graphical representation ofwater usage and/or predicted water usage.

FIG. 34 depicts a simplified representation of a user interface of anirrigation controller, according to some embodiments, displaying anexemplary graphical representation of water usage and/or predicted waterusage.

FIG. 35 depicts a simplified diagram of the display device, according tosome embodiments, displaying an example of a water authority interface.

FIG. 36 depicts a simplified diagram of the display device, according tosome embodiments, displaying an example of an irrigation interface.

FIG. 37 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process implemented bythe display device in displaying information to a user according to someembodiments.

FIG. 38 depicts a simplified diagram of a smart phone displaying waterusage and/or irrigation information.

FIG. 39 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an example process ofcontrolling irrigation through an association of water usage toirrigation timing according to some embodiments.

FIG. 40 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process of controllingirrigation according to some embodiments.

FIG. 41 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process according to someembodiments to automatically implement irrigation as a function of avolumetric water budget.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding componentsthroughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans willappreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicityand clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example,the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggeratedrelative to other elements to help to improve understanding of variousembodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understoodelements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasibleembodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a lessobstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but ismade merely for the purpose of describing the general principles ofexemplary embodiments. The scope of the invention should be determinedwith reference to the claims.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “some embodiments,” or similar language means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiment or embodiments is included in at least oneembodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” “in some embodiments,” “inaccordance with some embodiments,” and similar language throughout thisspecification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the sameembodiment or embodiments.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics ofthe invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details areprovided, such as examples of programming, software modules, userselections, network transactions, database queries, database structures,hardware modules, hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide athorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled inthe relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can bepracticed without one or more of the specific details, or with othermethods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances,well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown ordescribed in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

FIG. 1 depicts a simplified diagram of a system 120 according to someembodiments that implements water irrigation according to one or morevolumetric water budgets or fixed volumes of water. The system 120includes one or more water measuring devices 122 a connected to a watersource or supply 124, a communication device 122 b, and an irrigationcontroller 130 connected to one or more valves 132 that in turn eachdistribute water to one or more irrigation delivery devices 134. Thevalves are depicted for simplicity in series on a water source or waterline. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that thevalves are typically in parallel allowing one valve to be closed whileone or more down stream valves can still open and supply water to thewater delivery devices 134. The irrigation controller 130 controlsand/or instructs the valves 132 to open allowing water to be deliveredto the one or more water delivery devices 134 associated with the one ormore activated valves 132. In some instances, one or more valves areassociated with an irrigation zone 140 to be watered, and often theirrigation controller 130 implements the irrigation in accordance withruntimes defined for each zone 140. The property or irrigation sitebeing irrigated can be substantially any property or site, such as aresidence, a commercial site, school, park, a golf course, a housingdevelopment and/or other such property.

The water measuring device 122 a can be substantially any device thatcan output an indication corresponding to or that can be used todetermine a water usage and/or rate of water flow, and can measure waterusage and/or consumption at the property or irrigation site, and canmeasure in units per volume, a flow rate or other such measurements. Forexample, the water measuring device 122 a can be a water meter, a flowmeter, a valve with a measurement capability (e.g., a valve with aninternal flow meter), or other device that provides information that canbe utilized to determine a volumetric consumption. For simplicity thebelow description refers to the water measurement devices 122 a as ameter. It will be understood, however, that the meter 122 a is notlimited to a water meter but can be other devices or a combination ofdevices that can provide information utilized in determining waterconsumption and/or usage.

In some embodiments, the communication device 122 b is in communicationwith both the meter 122 a and the irrigation controller 130 to supplywater usage information as measured by the meter 122 a to the irrigationcontroller 130. The communication device 122 b can be a separate devicethat communicationally couples with the meter 122 a, or in someinstances may be directly coupled with or incorporated into the meter122 a. In still other embodiments, the communication device 122 bincludes a separate water meter to measure flow along with datacollection processing to track the measured water flow and acommunication capability, whether over wired or wireless communication.

The irrigation controller 130 is in communication with the meter 122 a,through the communication device 122 b (or with a meter within thecommunication device), to receive water usage, flow information or otherinformation corresponding to or that can be used to determine waterusage, such as but not limited to water usage measured is units ofvolume, water flow or other such measures. The communication between thecommunication device 122 b and the irrigation controller 130 can be overwired communication, wireless communication (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, RF,IR, cellular, satellite, ZigBee and/or other such wirelesscommunication), optical or other such communication. Further, thecommunication can be over a direct link, over a distributed localnetwork and/or over a wide area distributed network, such as theInternet. Similarly, the communication between the communication device122 b and the meter 122 a can be over wired communication, directconnection, wireless communication, optical or other such communication,and over a direct link, over a distributed local network or over a widearea distributed network, such as the Internet.

Again, the meter 122 a tracks water flow, the volume of water and/orother such measure of water use (e.g., volumetric water use) deliveredto the property or irrigation site, where at least a portion of thewater passing the meter is distributed by the water delivery devices 134of the irrigation system. The metered information is supplied to theirrigation controller 130 and used by the irrigation controller 130 inadjusting the irrigation relative to a volumetric water budget specifiedfor a budget period, where the budget period can be substantially anyrelevant period and can be time based, event based or other suchperiods. In some instances, the irrigation controller 130 utilizes themetered information to determine whether the water usage has exceededthe budget and/or may further determine in some embodiments whethercontinued water use is predicted to exceed the water budget during thebudget period. In those instances where the irrigation controllerdetermines that water usage has exceeded the water budget and/oranticipates exceeding the volumetric water budget, the irrigationcontroller 130 takes actions relative to further water use.

The irrigation controller 130 can use one or more volumetric waterbudgets in adjusting irrigation to maintain water usage within theprescribed water budgets over the budget period of time. For example,there may be a limited water budget for a given billing period, such asa monthly water budget. The irrigation controller 130 can attempt tolimit water usage, at least relative to irrigation usage, to try andkeep the water usage within the water budget over that given budgetperiod. In some embodiments, multiple volumetric water budgets may bedefined, such as a billing period budget as well as a given daily orirrigation event. The irrigation controller 130 may take both waterbudgets into account in determining irrigation and/or whetheradjustments should be implemented relative to irrigation.

The water budgets define a limited volume of water over a given budgetperiod, such as but not limited to, a volume of water use over a billingcycle (e.g., a month or multiple months), a cost of water used over abudget period, a volume of water use per day, a volume of water usedover an irrigation cycle or an irrigation zone cycle, or other suchlimits. The budget period can be substantially any budget period, suchas but not limited to a billing period, a month, a week, a day, anirrigation cycle, an irritation event, an irrigation occurrence, anannual budget or a fraction of a year (e.g., quarterly budget), andother such budgets. In many embodiments, the budget period spansmultiple irrigation cycles. Further, the budget period can be a rollingbudget. For example, a budget amount or volume of water may be utilizedin a rolling, fixed number of days, such as a budget period may be afixed number of days that continues to roll with each successive day orplurality of days; a fixed number of hours or minutes that continues toroll; a rolling number of irrigation occurrences or events; a rollingnumber of irrigation zones; a rolling number of irrigation cycles; othersuch rolling periods or combinations of such periods. In those instanceswhere multiple water budgets are being applied the irrigation controllercan evaluate water usage relative to each relevant budget. For example,in some embodiments a first volumetric water budget may apply for awater usage over a billing period, while a second volumetric waterbudget may apply for water usage over a given day and/or a thirdvolumetric water budget may apply for water delivery for a given zoneduring irrigation. Some embodiments may allow different water budgetsfor different areas and/or zones of the property or propertiescontrolled by one or more irrigation controllers. For example, a usermay specify a first budget (e.g., dollar amount, volume of water (e.g.,gallon) and/or other such budgets) and/or a relative priority) for oneor more zones (e.g., for zones covering a front yard of a property) anda second budget and/or priority for one or more other zones (e.g., forzones covering a back yard of the property), which the irrigationcontroller 130 can convert to runtimes based on known, estimated orlearned water flow rates, types of water deliver devices, waterpressure, runtimes and/or other such parameters. Similarly, there may bean irrigation water budget for water used in irrigation, and anon-irrigation water budget for water usage other than irrigation.Further, different irrigation areas or zones may have different budgetsand/or priorities relative to actions taken. These priorities can beuser specified, based on plant life being irrigated, types of waterdelivery devices 134, type of soil, slope or terrain, and other suchfactors or combinations of factors.

Utilizing the one or more relevant water budgets and the one or morebudget periods the irrigation controller 130 can take action relative towater usage and the water budgets. In some instances, the irrigationcontroller takes action simply by providing notification. In otherinstances, the irrigation controller 130 can take action to adjust waterusage. The action or actions taken can vary widely depending on one ormore factors and the capabilities of the irrigation controller. Thewater usage, in some embodiments, may be limited to irrigation wateruse, while in other embodiments water use may be based on bothirrigation water use and non-irrigation water use. Further, the one ormore water budgets may be specified by a user, a water authority, acommunity association and/or other such source or sources. Additionally,the one or more budgets may be defined as a volume of water, a costbudget or other such budgets. The irrigation controller, in someembodiments, receives water usage information, whether a flow rate,measured volume of water or other such measure from one or more meters122 a, calculates a water usage or otherwise determines water usage, andevaluates water usage relative to the budget. The water usage can bebased on an accumulated water use and/or predicted accumulated wateruse, for example over multiple irrigation cycles during a budget periodthat can spans multiple irrigation cycles, with the accumulated waterusage or predicted accumulated water usage being considered whenevaluating irrigation runtimes and water usage in relation to the waterbudget.

Irrigation restrictions may additionally be applied and/or implementedby the irrigation controller 130 while also evaluating water usagerelative to the water budget. These restrictions may include, but arenot limited to, windows of unavailability, restricted dates or dayswhere irrigation cannot be applied or when irrigation is only allowed,minutes of watering per property, minutes of watering per irrigation orirrigation event, volume of water per property, volume of water perirrigation or irrigation event, minutes per zone that are allowed,volume of water per zone allowed, certain times during the day whenirrigation is not allowed or can only be implemented, restrictionsrelative to a type of water delivery device 134 in the zone (e.g., oneor more zones may be available to deliver water on a given day becauseof the type of water delivery device(s) 134 within that zone (e.g., driplines), while one or more other zones may not be available to deliverwater because the one or more zones utilize different types of waterdeliver devices (e.g., sprinklers)), type of plant life being irrigated(e.g., restrictions because of the plant life, or some zones may beexempt from restrictions because of the type of plant life, such asvegetable garden), geographic and/or physical location of the propertybeing irrigated and/or zones being irrigated, and other suchrestrictions. Similarly, different zones being irrigated may havedifferent levels of restrictions (e.g., a first zone with drip lines maybe restricted to a first runtime and/or budget, while a second zone withsprinklers have been restricted to a reduced runtime and/or budget). Asa specific example, there may be some ranking or priority that can aidin determining and/or applying restrictions.

The one or more water budgets, budget information and/or restrictioninformation can be received from one or more sources. In some instances,water budget information and/or restriction information can be definedby the irrigation controller manufacturer, specified by a user, suppliedto the irrigation controller 130 from a remote source via acommunication link, relayed by another device (e.g., relayed fromanother irrigation controller, relayed from another device where a usercan enter budget information, relayed from another device incommunication with a source, and/or received from other such relevantdevice), manually entered by a contractor or water authorityrepresentative, received from a source over power line communications orother such sources or combinations of sources. As one example, theirrigation controller 130 may wirelessly receive budget information froma water authority. In another example, a user may manually enter thebudget information, for example, through a user interface or other dataentry capability. In yet another example, the irrigation controller 130may be in communication with the meter 122 a that in turn is incommunication with a water authority (e.g., over an Automatic MeterReading (AMR) network, an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)technology, or other such communication links and/or techniques) suchthat the meter 122 a can relay budget information to the irrigationcontroller 130. Similarly, the irrigation controller 130 may beconnected with an AMR and/or AMI to receive information from a waterauthority or other source. In some implementations, the irrigationcontroller 130 may connect with a wired or wireless network to receiveinformation, such as over the Internet, a dedicated network, radio,Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 900 MHzwireless communication, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, ZigBee orother such connections and/or communication schemes. As another example,the budget and/or restriction information may be pre-programmed in theirrigation controller 130 by the manufacturer and/or distributor, andthe user can enter a zip code or address of the property to access thebudget and/or restriction information relevant to the property whereirrigation is controlled relative to the budget and/or restrictions.Similarly, the zip code or address can be communicated to an authorityto receive the relevant budget and/or restriction information.

FIG. 2 depicts a simplified diagram of the irrigation system 120according to some embodiments where the meter 122 a is coupled with theirrigation controller 130 over a wired, fiber optic or other suchcommunication path 222. In some optional implementations, the meter 122a interfaces with a communication device 122 b (e.g., over the wiredcommunication path 222), and the communication device 122 b is in turncoupled over a wired communication path 224 with the irrigationcontroller 130.

FIG. 3 depicts a simplified diagram of the irrigation system 120associated with one or more buildings 320, such as a house, apartmentcomplex, office building, office complex, other commercial site,manufacturing facility, industrial park, housing development, golfcourse facility, hotel, resort or other structure or structures. Thebuilding 320 is also connected with one or more water sources 124 toreceive water for use within the building, with one or more meters 122measuring water flow, usage or other relevant information. As such, thewater usage at the property includes irrigation usage as well as othernon-irrigation water usage. The irrigation controller 130, in thisexample, is directly associated with the building or buildings 320,however, the irrigation controller 130 does not have to be fixed orproximate the building but instead can be separate from the building.Further, in some embodiments, the irrigation controller may be adistributed irrigation controller implemented by multiple differentdevices operating in cooperation, such as a plurality of controllers ora plurality of computers devices, servers and/or such devicesdistributed over a local area network, home area network, a wide areanetwork and/or the Internet, which may include in some embodiments theimplementation of a central irrigation control. Similarly, the meter 122or other source supplying water usage information may not be positionedon the property but may be distant from the property while stillmeasuring water flow and/or usage at the property.

Additionally, in this representative implementation, the irrigationcontroller 130 may control irrigation based on a water budget for theproperty, which includes both irrigation water use and non-irrigationwater use such as water use within the building 320. As introducedabove, the meter 122 in some implementations may include the ability todirectly communicate with the irrigation controller 130 (e.g., byincorporating the communication device 122 b into the meter 122 a). Inthe example system depicted in FIG. 3, the meter 122 is in wirelesscommunication with the irrigation controller 130; however, other methodsof communication as described above and further below can be employed.The meter 122, similar to meter 122 a, can be substantially any devicethat can output an indication corresponding to or that can be used todetermine a water usage and/or rate of water flow, and can measure waterusage and/or consumption at the property, and can measure in units pervolume, a flow rate or other such measurements.

Furthermore, in some implementations, a separate display device 324 canbe provided within the building 320. The separate display device 324 isin communication with the irrigation controller 130 over wiredcommunication, wireless communication, optical or other suchcommunication. Further, the communication can be over a direct link,over a distributed local network, home area network, local power lines,over a wide area distributed network, such as the Internet, or acombination of such networks. In some embodiments, the display device324 is coupled with the meter 122 to receive water usage informationfrom the meter, and in some instances may relay information to theirrigation controller 130. The display device 324, in accordance withsome implementations, can be configured to provide relatively basicinformation, such as a notification or alert relative to water usage inrelation to a water budget (e.g., water usage has exceeded the budget),while in other implementations the display device 324 can provide moredetailed information, such as the information identified above and/orother such information. The separate display device 324 can provideinformation to users within the building 320 about the irrigationcontroller 130, water use, water budget information, current statisticsrelative to irrigation and/or water use, water use relative to thebudget, costs associated with previous, current and/or continued wateruse, and/or other such information as full described below.Additionally, the display device 324 may be cooperated with and/or incommunication with other devices and/or systems in the building 320 toreceive and display information about these other devices and/orsystems, such as a security or alarm system, one or more appliances,interior environment control system and/or other such systems. Furtherin some implementations, the display device 324 can provide users with auser interface that allows the users to interact with the display device324, obtain desired information from the display device and/or configurethe display device. In some embodiments, the display device 324 cancommunicate directly with the meter 122 and/or a communication device122 b and provide water use information without interaction with theirrigation controller 130.

In some embodiments, the irrigation controller 130 may additionallycommunicate with one or more sensors and/or detectors 326. The one ormore sensors 326 can be substantially any relevant sensor, such as butnot limited to, soil moisture sensor, rain sensor, temperature sensor,wind sensor, humidity sensor and other such relevant sensors. Theirrigation controller 130 can receive the sensed information from theone or more sensors 326 through direct connections, wireless connections(e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, ZigBee and/or other suchwireless communication) or other such relevant communication mechanisms.

FIG. 4 depicts a simplified diagram of the irrigation system 120associated with the building 320. The system 120 can further include oneor more separate water measurement devices, such as one or more waterflow sensors, meters or other relevant water measuring devices 422,which in some instances may be dedicated for irrigation. In theseembodiments, the dedicated water meter 422 is in communication with theirrigation controller 130 over wired communication, wirelesscommunication, optical or other such communication. Further, thecommunication can be over a direct link, over a distributed localnetwork, power line network and/or over a wide area distributed network,such as the Internet. Additionally or alternatively, one or moreadditional dedicated meters can be incorporated into the system 120,such as a meter associated with each valve, a meter dedicated to thebuilding 320 or one building of a plurality of buildings, and other suchimplementations. As one example, the separate meter 422, in someimplementations, can be a Flowstar meter available from Itron of LibertyLake, Wash., and similarly can be cooperated with a radio based endpointalso available from Itron. In some embodiments, an American Water WorksAssociation (AWWA) meter, such as a municipal water meter may beutilized for the meter 122 and/or separate meter 422. Other metersand/or data collection and/or communication devices can be utilized inother embodiments.

Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments the one or moreseparate water measurement devices 422 is in communication with thedisplay device 324 over wired communication, wireless communication,optical or other such communication. Further, the communication can beover a direct link, over a distributed local network, power line networkand/or over a wide area distributed network, such as the Internet.Similarly, the display device 324 may be in communication with theseparate shut-off valve 424 over wired communication, wirelesscommunication, optical or other such communication. Further, thecommunication can be over a direct link, over a distributed localnetwork, power line network and/or over a wide area distributed network,such as the Internet. This would allow the display device 324 to providesome budget control by receiving water usage information, for examplefrom the separate meter 422, and controlling the shut-off valve 424relative to the water budget, either through direct communication withthe shut-off valve 424 (or other valve), or through communications withthe separate meter 422 that can control the shut-off valve 424 (or othervalve).

As described above, the irrigation controller 130 controls the amount ofwater delivered through the irrigation system by opening and closing thevalves 132. This control can be based on scheduled timing, environmentalconditions, historic information, soil moisture information, and/orother such information. Further, the irrigation controller 130 isprovided with a water budget for a predefined budget period of time.Based at least on the water budget and water use information theirrigation controller 130 can alter the irrigation. The water usage, atleast in part, can be supplied in some instances by the separate meter422. Further, by obtaining irrigation water usage information from theseparate meter 422 the non-irrigation water usage for the property canmore readily be determined, for example by subtracting the measuredirrigation water use as measured by the meter 422 from the water use asmeasured by the meter 122. Still further, the separate meter 422 cannotify the irrigation controller 130 in the event there is a leak withinthe irrigation system as opposed to a leak in another part of theproperty, such as within the building 320.

Still referring to FIG. 4, some embodiments may additionally include aseparate valve 424 that can be activated to shut off water flow to theirrigation system. This shut off valve 424 may be directly connectedwith the separate volumetric meter 422 such that the volumetric metermay close the shut off valve 424 upon detection that a budget of waterhas been exceeded. For example, the separate volumetric meter 422 caninclude a meter controller implemented through one or more processorsand/or microprocessors with internal memory and/or coupled withadditional memory within the separate meter 422 with the one or moreprocessors and/or microprocessors being configured and/or programmed toevaluate meter readings and implement software stored in the memory todetermine whether a water budget is exceeded and to trigger anactivation of the shut off valve 424. It is noted that the water budgetconsidered by the separate meter 422 may be the same as or a differentwater budget than one or more budgets evaluated by the irrigationcontroller 130 and/or the separate display device 324. For example, thewater authority or other source may communicate a budget, a new budgetor changes to a budget, non-irrigation budget, usage information, watercredits information, costs information, tier information and otherrelevant information. In other instances, the irrigation controller 130may be in communication with the shut off valve 424 to signal the valveto close and shut off irrigation. In other embodiments the shut offvalve 424 may additionally or alternatively be in communication with thewater meter 122 or a remote water authority that can activate the shutoff valve 424 to open or close.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified diagram of an example irrigation system 120according to some embodiments where irrigation can be adjusted and/orcontrolled relative to a water budget where the irrigation controller130 is in wireless communication with one or more valves 532 (e.g.,Wi-Fi, RF, IR, Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, ZigBee and/or other suchwireless communication). The irrigation system 120 includes the watersource 124, the meter 122, the irrigation controller 130 and one or morevalves 532 cooperated with the one or more water delivery devices 134.Some embodiments may include one or more separate meters 422, shut offvalves 424 and/or sensors 326. Additionally, in some implementations theirrigation system 120 may be associated with a building 320 that caninclude a separate display device 324 in communication with theirrigation controller 130 and/or other source of information. In theembodiment depicted in FIG. 5, the irrigation valves 532 can be inwireless communication with the irrigation controller 130 and/or includevalve controllers that are in wireless communication with the irrigationcontroller 130 to wirelessly receive instructions to open or close.

FIG. 6 depicts a simplified diagram of a system 120 according to someembodiments that implements irrigation control. The system 120 in thisrepresentative example further includes one or more sub-irrigationcontrollers, satellite controllers, and/or decoder based systems 622.These systems are referred to below for simplicity as a satellitecontroller 622. The one or more satellite controllers 622 arecommunicationally coupled with the irrigation controller 130. In someimplementations, the irrigation controller 130 communicates controland/or irrigation scheduling to the satellite controllers 622 and thesatellite controllers 622 implement the irrigation scheduling asdictated by the irrigation controller 130. The irrigation controller130, in some implementations in accordance with the configuration ofFIG. 6, can be considered a central irrigation controller that can be adedicated central irrigation control device or can be implementedthrough a computer, such as a desk top computer or laptop, or otherrelevant device. Further, the irrigation controller 130 can receivealterations to irrigation scheduling and/or can determine adjustments toirrigation scheduling, such as adjustments with regards to a volumetricwater budget. The irrigation controller 130 can communicate with thesatellite controllers through wired or wireless communication methods.In some embodiments, the system may be a decoder-based irrigationcontrol system. For example, in a decoder based irrigation controlsystem, a computer based or stand alone irrigation controller (e.g., oneversion of irrigation controller 130) sends operational power and dataover a multi-wire (e.g., 2 or 3 wire) transmission line to many decoderunits (e.g., decoder units could be one form of controllers 622) eachcoupled at various locations to the multi-wire line (not shown). Eachdecoder unit derives operational power from the multi-wire line andcontrols the operation of one or more irrigation valve or othersprinkler device/s. The controller 130 functionally includes or iscoupled to a field interface device that modulates or encodes data,typically on a power waveform, to power and address and communicate withthe decoder units. Decoder-based systems are generally well-known instructure and operation by those of ordinary skill in the art. Anexample of a known decoder system includes the PAR+ES Decoder controllersystem and FD-101, FD-102, FD-202, FD-401 and FD-601 decoderscommercially available from Rain Bird Corporation of Asuza, Calif.

In some implementations as introduced above, the irrigation controller130 can further be connected with a distributed network 624, such as alocal area network (LAN), home area network, a powerline communicationnetwork, the Internet or other such network. This allows the irrigationcontroller 130 to connect with one or more remote devices and/orservices 626, 630, 632, such as a weather data service, anevapotranspiration (ET) data service, a water authority 626, historicinformation (e.g., historic weather data, historic ET data, and othersuch historic data), and other relevant devices and/or services. Furtherin some instances, the irrigation controller 130 can be remotelyaccessed by a user from over the network 624 via a computer, wirelessdevice (e.g., personal digital assistant, cellular phone or other suchwireless device), or other such devices. In some embodiments, the waterauthority 626 can communicate with the meter 122 and/or the irrigationcontroller 130 via the network 624, over a dedicated network, wirelesslyor other such communication methods. For example, the water authority orother source may communicate a budget, a new budget or changes to abudget, usage information, water credits information, costs information,tier information and other relevant information.

FIG. 7A depicts a simplified diagram of a system 710 according to someembodiments where irrigation is controlled with some collectivecooperation. The system 710 provides a cooperative water usage over aplurality of properties 714-716. For example, there may be defined acooperative water budget for the cooperation of properties, while one ormore additional water budgets may be associated with each property. As aspecific example, an industrial park can include multiple differentbuildings 320, where a cooperative water budget may be defined for theindustrial park. Again in some instances, there may also be individualwater budgets associated with each building (which may includeirrigation water usage of property surrounding and/or associated withthat building). As another example, a townhouse community may have acooperative water budget for the community while also having individualwater budgets for each townhouse 320 within the community. Similarly, agolf course or resort may include multiple buildings (e.g., club house,restaurant, hotel, spa and the like), with a cooperative water budget,where the water budget may be set by the property owner, a cooperativeof property owners, a water authority and/or other party. One or moreadditional budgets may also be associated with one or more of thebuildings and/or surrounding property.

As a result, the water usage and water budgets over the plurality ofproperties can be taken into account in attempting to control water useand/or in adjusting irrigation relative to each property 714-716individually as well as the community or cooperation of properties. Forexample, the individual water budgets corresponding to the givenproperties 714-716 can be determined as a function of the communitywater budget. In other embodiments, the individual properties 714-716 donot have individual water budgets, and instead the irrigationcontrollers 130 adjust irrigation relative to water usage over thecommunity.

Still referring to FIG. 7A, the community may include one or morecommunity water meters 722 measuring water usage at the community. Thecommunity meter 722 can be similar to meter 122 or can cooperate with acommunication device (e.g., communication device 122 b) or include atransceiver to allow the community meter 722 to forward measured waterusage to one or more of the irrigation controllers 130. The properties714-716, in some instance, can also include individual meters 122(and/or meter 122 a). In other embodiment, a community meter 722 is notused, and instead the individual meters 122 of each property 714-716 areused to determine relative community water usage that can be used by theone or more irrigation controllers 130 in controlling and/or potentiallyadjusting irrigation.

A communication device 122 b can be cooperated with the individualmeters 122 a, or the meters 122 can incorporate a transceiver, such as awireless transceiver. The irrigation controller 130 at each propertycontrols valves 132 relative to each property to control irrigation. Oneor more of the properties 714-716 may also include a separate displaydevice 324 to receive water usage information, notification and/orstatistics. In some instances, a separate display device 324 limitsinformation available through the display device to information specificto the property, while in other instances a separate display device mayprovide information about the community. Further, users can be notifiedof potential costs for water usage, increased costs for continued waterusage, imposed restrictions due to predicted excess water usage, costsand/or penalties for exceeding budgets and other relevant information.For example, due to water usage and/or predicted water usage over thecommunity, the individual users may be notified that excess fees mayresult if water usage at the properties exceed property budgets inattempts to keep the community water usage within budget.

In some instances, one or more of the irrigation controllers 130 can becoupled with a distributed network 624, such as the Internet, andservices and/or sources 626, 630, 632 accessible over the network 624.Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the irrigation controllers130 can further be configured to communicate with one or more of theother irrigation controllers (e.g., over a 900 MHz wirelesscommunication channel, over direct wired communication, over adistributed network, or other such relevant communication mechanisms).For example, a first irrigation controller may have access to thenetwork 624 and can receive budget information from a water authority orother source (e.g., a community association) and can forward thatinformation to one or more other irrigation controllers. Additionally,in some instances, the information can be forwarded from irrigationcontroller to irrigation controller until those irrigation controllers130 that may need the information have the relevant information. Theindividual irrigation controllers may additionally include addressing orother identifiers that allow specific communications and/or informationto be addressed or otherwise directed to a specific irrigationcontroller (e.g., when different properties 714-716 have different waterbudgets).

Furthermore, the irrigation system 710 of the community can beconfigured with a main or central irrigation controller with a pluralityof satellite controllers, with the central irrigation controllerforwarding irrigation scheduling for the satellite controllers, orforwarding water budgets specific to the satellite controllers to allowthe satellite controllers to control irrigation relative to thecorresponding water budget. The example embodiment depicted in FIG. 7Ashows each individual property with an irrigation controller 130. It isnoted, however, that a single irrigation controller 130 may providecontrol of irrigation over the community while tracking water usage ofthe community as well as at individual properties so as to predict waterusage and attempt to at least adjust irrigation in attempts to keepwater usage within a budget for the community. Similarly, the singlecontroller may notify one or more of the individual property owners, forexample through the separate display devices 324, through an irrigationcontroller when present at the property or through other notification,that the particular user may be charged with a penalty if water use atthe property exceeds a property budget.

FIG. 7B depicts a simplified diagram of an irrigation system 750according to some embodiments where irrigation is controlled through acentral irrigation controller 752 in communication with a plurality ofsub-controllers or satellite controllers 130, which may be similar tothe satellite controllers 622 described above with regard to FIG. 6. Thecentral irrigation controller 752 provides a cooperative water usageover a plurality of properties 714-716. The communication between thecentral irrigation controller 752 and the sub-controllers 130 can beover wireless, wired, fiber optic, optical or other relevantcommunication paths, and further can be over direct communication links,over local area network, home area network, one or more distributednetworks, such as the Internet, or a combination of such networks. Theproperties 714-716 can be at substantially any geographic location andcan be substantially any distance from the central irrigation controller752 as long the central irrigation controller is in at leastintermittent communication with the distributed irrigation controllers130 at the various properties. Further, each property 714-716 includesone or more meters 122 and/or dedicated meters (not shown in FIG. 7B).The central irrigation controller 752 can utilize the measured and/ordetermined water usage to determine whether adjustments to irrigation atindividual properties need to be implemented (e.g., adjustments at afirst property 714 due to predictions that the water budget is expectedto be exceeded at the first property 714). Similarly, the centralirrigation controller 752 may, in some embodiments, implementadjustments at one or more of the properties 714-716 as a result of anexpectation that a predicted cooperative total water usage over two ormore of the multiple properties 714-716 is predicted to be exceeded acooperative water budget.

FIG. 7C depicts a simplified diagram of an irrigation system 780according to some embodiments where irrigation is controlled through adistributed central irrigation controller 782 in communication with oneor more irrigation controllers 130 or in some instances satellitecontrollers 130. The distributed central irrigation controller 782 isimplemented through one or more devices 784-786 distributed over and incommunication through a distributed network 624. The distributed devices784-786 can be servers, computers or other relevant devices that canprovide some or all of the irrigation control to control irrigationand/or provide instructions to one or more local controllers 130,including provide some or all of the water use and budget analysis asdescribed above and further below. In some embodiments, the distributedirrigation controller 782 provides substantially all of the irrigationcontrol while the local irrigation controllers 130 simply implementinstructions and/or schedules provided by the distributed irrigationcontroller 782. One or more distributed devices 784-786 can communicatewith the irrigation controller 130 over the distributed network 624and/or via wireless communication (e.g., cellular, satellite or othersuch relevant wireless communication).

FIG. 8A depicts a simplified block diagram of an irrigation controller130 according to some embodiments. The irrigation controller includes acontroller 822, one or more memory and/or digital storage 824, anirrigation interface 830 and a communication interface 834 (for example,a receiver, transmitter or transceiver). The controller 822 can beimplemented through one or more processors, microprocessors, logicdevices, hardware, firmware and/or combinations thereof. Thus,irrigation control may be performed using substantially any relevantprocessor logic or logic circuit. The irrigation control providescontrol over the irrigation and can be software and/or firmwareimplemented by the controller 822. The memory 824 can be memory separatefrom the controller 822, can be memory as part of the controller 822and/or a combination of separate memory and memory of the controller.The irrigation interface 830 provides a communication interface tointeract and/or control valves 132 or other relevant devices. Thecommunication interface 834 allows the irrigation controller 130 to atleast receive information, such as information relevant to water usage.Further, the communication interface 834 can provide wireless and/orwired communications. In some embodiments, memory of the controller 130(e.g., within controller 822 and/or memory 824) stores executableprogram code or instructions that when executed by a processor of thecontroller 822 cause the irrigation controller 130 to perform one ormore functions such as described herein.

FIG. 8B depicts a simplified block diagram of an irrigation controller130 according to some embodiments. The irrigation controller includes acontroller 822, one or more memory and/or digital storage 824, a networkinterface 826, the irrigation interface 830, a user interface 832 andone or more communication links and/or transceivers 834. The memory 824can be memory separate from the controller 822, can be memory as part ofthe controller 822 and/or a combination of separate memory and memory ofthe controller. The irrigation control provides control over theirrigation and can be software and/or firmware implemented by thecontroller 822. The controller 822 can be implemented through one ormore processors, microprocessors, logic devices, hardware, firmwareand/or combinations thereof. Thus, irrigation control may be performedusing substantially any relevant processor logic or logic circuit.

The memory 824 can generally store executable program code including oneor more of irrigation control software and/or applications 840, anetwork service software and/or applications 842, data 844, parameters846, one or more irrigation schedules 850, programs and/or software 852,executables, 854, conditions and/or statistics 856, one or more budgetsincluding at least one water budget 860, restrictions 862 whenapplicable, drivers 864 and the like. In some instances, the memory 824may additionally store one or more: soil conditions and parameters, webpages, web page formatting, geographic data, depictions of geographicareas, meter data, billing information, budget periods, costs, fees,penalties, and/or other relevant programs and data. The memory can beimplemented through RAM, ROM, EPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital video disk (DVD) or other optical diskstorage, magnetic storage, and/or substantially any other medium orcombinations of medium and/or storage that can be used to store thedesired information and that can be accessed by the controller 822. Inmany embodiments, the irrigation controller 130 is a stand alone devicethat can be positioned relative to valve 132 to control irrigation. Inother embodiments, the irrigation controller 130 may be implementedthrough a computer, such as personal computer (PC), laptop or the likethat includes the processor(s) 822, memory 824 and interfaces 832.

The network connection 826 and network service 842, in part, allows theirrigation controller 130 to communicate with other devices, whetherover a local network, a distributed network, the Internet, a power linecommunication network and/or other such networks. For example, thenetwork connection 826 can allow the irrigation controller to receivechanges, budgets, updates, parameters, conditions, data, meter data,billing information, budget periods, costs, fees, penalties, informationabout buying, selling and/or trading water usage and/or credits, andother information, as well as communicate instructions, statusinformation, provide diagnostic information, notifications, warnings,information about water usage, buying, selling and/or trading waterusage and/or credits, and substantially any action and/or to transmit orreceive substantially any information relevant to the irrigationcontroller 130. In forwarding information, in some embodiments, thecontroller 822 and/or network service 842 identifies the type of deviceexpected to receive the communication to determine the type ofinformation and/or content to be forwarded, and/or how to format theinformation and/or content. For example, a first type of the separatedisplay device 324 may have a certain level of functionality while asecond type of separate display device 324 may have additionalfunctionality that the first display device does not have, and as such,additional and/or different information and data may be provided to thesecond display device than is provided to the first display device.Similarly, in some instances the irrigation controller 130 maycommunicate with other types of devices, such as a computer, a wirelessportable device or the like, and as such, the type of, amount and formatof the content or information can be identified and configured relativeto the type of device receiving the information. Further, in someembodiments, the irrigation controller 130 may be implemented on ageneral purpose personal computer including irrigation control software840 that implements at least in part the irrigation controlfunctionality.

The irrigation interface 830 allows the irrigation controller 130 toactivate irrigation, for example, by communicating with one or morevalves 132 and/or satellite controllers 622. For example, the irrigationinterface 830 can include one or more valve drivers 870 and/or one ormore satellite controller interfaces 872. The controller 822 can forwardinstructions to the valves 132 through the valve drivers 870, andsimilarly can communicate with satellite controllers 622 through thesatellite controller interfaces 872.

The user interface 832 allows a user to directly interact with theirrigation controller 130. The user interface can include user inputs880 such as but not limited to physical buttons and/or keypad, touchscreen, pointing device (e.g., mouse, mouse pad, track ball, stylist,etc.), and the like. The user interface 832 can additionally include oneor more display devices 882, which can include but is not limited to,one or more lights, light emitting diodes (LED), and one or moredisplays (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), LCD touch screen, plasmadisplay panel, light emitting diode display (such as but not limited toorganic light emitting diode (OLED), light emitting polymer (LEP),organic electro luminescence (OEL), and the like), and other relevantdisplays). The transceiver 834 provides the irrigation controller 130with the capability to transmit and/or receive information, data,budgets, parameters, conditions, sensor data, meter data and/or othersuch relevant information. The transceiver 834 can be a wiredtransceiver, wireless transceiver, optical transceiver or other suchtransceiver or combination of transceivers.

FIG. 9A depicts a simplified block diagram of an example implementationof a separate display device 324 according to some embodiments. Thedisplay device 324 includes a display device controller 922, one or morememory and/or digital storage 924, a display 954 and a communicationinterface 930 (for example, a receiver, transmitter or transceiver). Thedisplay device controller 922 can be implemented through one or moreprocessors, microprocessors, logic devices, hardware, firmware and/orcombinations thereof. The memory 924 can be memory separate from thedisplay device controller 922, can be memory as part of the displaydevice controller 922 and/or a combination of separate memory and memoryof the display device controller. The communication interface 930 allowsthe display device to at least receive information that can be utilizedby the display device controller 922 in generating and displayinginformation on the display 954, such as budget information and/ornotifications when a water budget is exceeded. Further, thecommunication interface 930 can provide wireless and/or wiredcommunications. In some embodiments, memory of the display device 324(e.g., within controller 922 and/or memory 924) stores executableprogram code or instructions that when executed by a processor of thecontroller 922 cause the display device 324 to perform one or morefunctions such as described herein.

FIG. 9B depicts a simplified block diagram of an implementation of aseparate display device 324 according to some embodiments. The displaydevice 324 includes a display device controller 922, one or more memoryand/or digital storage 924, a user interface 926 and one or morecommunication links and/or transceivers 930. In some embodiments, thedisplay device 324 can include a network interface and/or connection932.

The display device controller 922 can be implemented through logicdevices, hardware, firmware and/or combinations thereof. In someembodiments, the controller is implemented at least in part through oneor more processors and/or microprocessors configured to receive andprocess information and data, and display relevant information throughthe user interface 926. The display device controller 922 can include agraphics processor or the one or more processors or microprocessorsimplementing the display device controller 922 can provide graphicsprocessing allowing the display device 324 to display content and/orgraphics through the user interface 926.

The memory 924 can be memory separate from the display device controller922, can be memory as part of the display device controller 922 and/or acombination of separate memory and memory of the display devicecontroller. Further, the memory 924 can generally store executableprogram code including one or more of programs and/or software 940,executables, 942, data 944, parameters 946, one or more budgets and/orbudget data 950, network services 952 and the like. The memory can beimplemented through RAM, ROM, EPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital video disk (DVD) or other optical diskstorage, magnetic storage, and/or substantially any other medium orcombinations of medium and/or storage that can be used to store thedesired information and that can be accessed by the display devicecontroller 922. In some embodiments, the display device 324 is acomputer and/or implemented through a computer.

The user interface 926 allows a user to directly interact with thedisplay device 324. In some embodiments, the user interface includesuser inputs 952, such as but not limited to physical buttons and/orkeypad, touch screen, pointing device (e.g., mouse, mouse pad, trackball, stylist, etc.), and the like. The user interface 926 canadditionally include one or more display devices 954, which can includebut is not limited to, one or more lights, light emitting diodes (LED),and one or more displays (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), LCD touchscreen, plasma display panel, light emitting diode display, and otherrelevant displays).

The transceiver 930 provides the display device 324 with the capabilityto receive and/or transmit information, data, budgets, parameters,conditions, sensor data, meter data and/or other such relevantinformation. The transceiver 930 can be a wired transceiver, wirelesstransceiver, optical transceiver or other such transceiver orcombination of transceivers. The network connection 932 allows thedisplay device 324 to communicate with other devices, whether over alocal network, a distributed network, the Internet, a power linecommunication network and/or other such networks. For example, thenetwork connection 932 can allow the display device to receivenotifications that a water budget is exceed, notification of predictionsrelative to water usage and/or predictions of exceeding the waterbudget, meter data, billing information, budget periods, costs, fees,penalties and other such information, as well as communicate informationsuch as communication information to a water authority or a user'sremote device (e.g., wireless phone).

FIG. 10A depicts a simplified block diagram of an example implementationof a communication device 122 b according to some embodiments. Thecommunication device 122 b includes a communication device controller1022, a memory and/or digital storage 1024 and a communication interface1026 (for example, a receiver, transmitter or transceiver). Thecommunication device controller 1022 can be implemented through one ormore processors, microprocessors, logic devices, hardware, firmwareand/or combinations thereof. The memory 1024 can be memory separate fromthe communication device controller 1022, can be memory as part of thecommunication device controller 1022 and/or a combination of separatememory and memory of the communication device controller. Thecommunication interface 1026 allows the communication device 122 b to atleast forward measured water usage information that can be utilized indetermining water usage. Further, the communication interface 1026 canprovide wireless and/or wired communications. As described above, thecommunication device 122 b may be a separate device in communicationwith one or more meters 122, or may be implemented into a watermeasuring device or other device in communication with a water measuringdevice. In some embodiments, memory of the communication device 122 b(e.g., within controller 1022 and/or memory 1024) stores executableprogram code or instructions that when executed by a processor of thecontroller 1022 cause the communication device 122 b to perform one ormore functions such as described herein.

FIG. 10B depicts a simplified block diagram of an implementation of acommunication device 122 b according to some embodiments. Thecommunication device 122 b includes a communication device controller1022, one or more memory and/or digital storage 1024, and one or morecommunication links, transmitter, receiver and/or transceivers 1026. Insome implementations, the communication device 122 b may additionallyinclude a user interface 1030 and/or a network interface and/orconnection 1032. As described above, the communication device 122 b mayadditionally include, in some embodiments, a water meter that measureswater flow, volumes of water and/or usage.

The communication device controller 1022 can be implemented through oneor more processors, microprocessors, logic devices, hardware, firmwareand/or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the communicationdevice controller 1022 is implemented at least in part through one ormore processors and/or microprocessors configured to receive and processinformation and data. Additionally in some implementations, thecommunication device controller 1022 can include a graphics processor orthe one or more processors or microprocessors implementing thecommunication device controller 1022 can provide graphics processingallowing the communication device 122 b to display content and/orgraphics through the user interface 1030.

The memory 1024 can be memory separate from the communication devicecontroller 1022, can be memory as part of the communication devicecontroller 1022 and/or a combination of separate memory and memory ofthe communication device controller. Further, the memory 1024 cangenerally store executable program code including one or more of storeprograms and/or software 1040, executables, 1042, data 1044, parameters1046, network services 1050 and the like. The memory can be implementedthrough RAM, ROM, EPROM, flash memory or other memory technology,CD-ROM, digital video disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magneticstorage, and/or substantially any other medium or combinations of mediumand/or storage that can be used to store the desired information andthat can be accessed by the communication device controller 1022.

As introduced above, some embodiments include a user interface 1030 thatallows a user to directly interact with the communication device 122 b.The user interface can include user inputs 1052, such as but not limitedto physical buttons and/or keypad, touch screen, pointing device, andthe like. The user interface 1030 can additionally include one or moredisplay devices 1054, which can include but is not limited to, one ormore lights, light emitting diodes (LED), and one or more displays(e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), LCD touch screen, plasma displaypanel, light emitting diode display, and other relevant displays).

The transceiver 1026 provides the communication device 122 b with thecapability to transmit and receive information, data, meter data and/orother such relevant information, and can be implemented as a wiredtransceiver, wireless transceiver, optical transceiver or other suchtransceiver or combination of transceivers. The transceiver 1026 canprovide the communication device with the capability to communicatewith, for example, a meter 122, one or more separate meters 422, theirrigation controller 130, the display device 324 and/or other devicesor services, such as a watering authority. Similarly, the networkconnection 1032 allows the communication device 122 b to communicatewith devices over other networks, whether over a local network, adistributed network, the Internet, a power line communication networkand/or other such networks. For example, the network connection 1032 canallow the communication device 122 b to communicate with a meter 122,one or more separate meters 422, irrigation controller 130, displaydevice 324 and/or other devices or services, such as a wateringauthority.

FIG. 11A depicts a simplified block diagram of an example meter 122according to some embodiments. The meter 122 includes a water measuringdevice, such as a water meter, flow sensor or other such measuringdevice 1122, a meter controller 1130, memory 1132 and a communicationinterface 1134 (for example, a receiver, transmitter or transceiver).The water measuring device 1122 measures water flow, volumes of water,usage and/or consumption. The meter controller 1130, when incorporated,can be implemented through one or more processors, microprocessors,logic devices, hardware, firmware and/or combinations thereof, and isconfigured to initiate communication of water usage, flow and/or otherrelevant information, which may simply be a pulse based on a certainnumber rotations of a paddle wheel, water flow or measured amount ofwater, or may include more detailed information such as measured volumesof water. The memory 1132 can be memory separate from the metercontroller 1130, part of the meter controller 1130 and/or a combinationof separate memory and memory of the meter controller. The communicationinterface 1134, in some embodiments, is simply a transmitter thattransmits the relevant measured information or is coupled with aseparate communication device 122 b that in turn communicates theinformation from the water meter 122 a. Additionally or alternatively,the communication interface 1134 allows the meter 122 a to forwardinformation that can be utilized by the irrigation controller 130, thedisplay device 324 or other such devices. Further, the communicationinterface 1134 can provide wireless and/or wired communications. In someembodiments, memory of the meter 122 (e.g., within controller 1130and/or memory 1132) stores executable program code or instructions thatwhen executed by a processor of the controller 1130 cause the meter 122to perform one or more functions such as described herein.

FIG. 11B depicts a simplified block diagram of an implementation of ameter 122 according to some embodiments. The meter 122 includes a watermeter water meter, flow sensor or other such device 1122, and in someinstances can include an optional user interface 1124. The water meter1122 measures water flow, volumes of water, usage and/or consumption,and the user interface 1124 can provide information about the measuredwater flow and/or usage. In some instances, the user interface includesa display 1126 that comprises one or more counters. In other embodimentsthat include a display, the display may include but is not limited to,one or more lights, light emitting diodes (LED), and one or moredisplays (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), LCD touch screen, plasmadisplay panel, light emitting diode display, and other relevantdisplays). The meter 122 may, in some embodiments, additionally includea meter controller 1130, one or more memory and/or digital storage 1132,one or more communication links, communication transmitter, receiverand/or transceivers 1134, and a network interface and/or connection1136.

The meter controller 1130, when incorporated, can be implemented throughone or more processors, microprocessors, logic devices, hardware,firmware and/or combinations thereof configured and/or programmed tomonitor water usage and/or flow, report the usage and in someimplementations communicate water usage or receive instructions,scripts, software and/or upgrades relative to updates, controloperations, resetting and other such functionality. The memory 1132 canbe memory separate from the meter controller 1130, can be memory as partof the meter controller 1130 and/or a combination of separate memory andmemory of the meter controller. Further, the memory 1132 can generallystore executable program code including one or more of store programsand/or software 1140, executables 1142, data 1144, parameters 1146,network services 1150 and the like, accessible by at least the metercontroller 1130 to be utilized and/or implemented by the metercontroller. The memory 1132 can be implemented through RAM, ROM, EPROM,flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic storage, and/or substantially any other medium orcombinations of medium and/or storage that can be used to store thedesired information and that can be accessed by the meter controller1130.

In some embodiments the user interface 1124 may optionally include userinputs 1152, such as but not limited to physical buttons and/or keypad,touch screen, pointing device, and the like. The transceiver 1134 canprovide the meter 122 with the capability to transmit and receiveinformation, meter data and/or other such relevant information, andreceive information, such as upgrades, reset commands or other suchinformation and/or instructions. The transceiver 1134 (or separatetransmitter and receiver) can provide wired, wireless or opticalcommunication. Similarly, the network connection 1136 can allow themeter 122 to communicate with other devices and/or services, such as awater authority, whether over a local network, a distributed network,the Internet, AMI, AMR, a power line communication network and/or othersuch networks.

The water meter 1122 measures water flow and usage relative to the givenproperty or through a given water line. For example, a water meter isused by a water authority in billing the water used at a given property.The present embodiments can utilize the meter 122 (and/or in someinstances one or more separate meters 422) to track the water usage asprovided by the one or more meters 122, 422 to make adjustments to waterusage, at least with respect to irrigation water usage, in attempts tokeep water usage within a budget. Some simplified embodiments utilizethe meter 122 or a separate meter 422 to similarly track the water usageto notify a user when water usage exceeds a water budget and in someinstances is predicted to exceed a water budget.

FIG. 12A depicts a simplified block diagram of a notification system1210 according to some embodiments. The notification system includes oneor more meters 122 that track water usage from a water source 124 andcommunicate that water usage information to the separate display device324. In some instances, a separate communication device 122 b isincluded that communicates the measured water usage, while in otherinstances the meter 122 incorporates the communication device 122 band/or the communication functionalities to communicate the measuredwater usage.

Upon receiving the water usage information the display device 324 candetermine whether water usage exceeds and/or is predicted to exceed awater budget for a given period of time. These calculations and/orevaluations of water usage can be similar to those described above andfurther below. The display device 324 can then notify a user of thecurrent statistics relative to water usage, including whether the budgetis exceeded, whether predicted water usages is predicted to exceed thebudget, costs associated with water usage and/or exceeding the waterbudget and other relevant information. Further, in some embodiments, thedisplay device 324 may be configured and/or other programmed with thefunctionality to identify how water usage may be adjusted, which mightinclude the functionality to identify how irrigation water usage may beadjusted. This information can be provided to the user give the userrelevant information for making adjustments, for example, to theirrigation controller as suggested by the display device in thoseinstances where an irrigation controller is incapable of receivingmetered data and/or incapable of determining potential adjustments thatmight be made relative to the water budget.

FIG. 12B depicts a simplified diagram of a system 1250 according to someembodiments that implements water irrigation according to one or morevolumetric water budgets or fixed volumes of water. The system 1250includes a water source or supply 124, an irrigation controller 130, oneor more valves 132 and water delivery devices 134. The water source orsupply 124 is connected with the one or more valves 132 that in turneach distribute water to one or more irrigation delivery devices 134.The valves are depicted for simplicity in series on a water source orwater line. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat the valves are typically in parallel allowing one valve to beclosed while one or more down stream valves can still open and supplywater to the water delivery devices 134.

The irrigation controller 130 is connected to the one or more valves 132and controls and/or instructs the valves 132 to open allowing water tobe delivered to the one or more water delivery devices 134 associatedwith the one or more activated valves 132 or close to prevent water frombeing delivered to the one or more water delivery devices associatedwith the valve. In some instances, one or more valves are associatedwith an irrigation zone 140 or geographic area to be watered, and oftenthe irrigation controller 130 implements the irrigation in accordancewith runtimes defined for each zone 140.

Further, for simplicity, the system 1250 is depicted with a singleirrigation controller 130. It is noted, however, that the irrigationcontroller 130 can be a single irrigation controller, a plurality ofcontrollers in communication, a central controller in cooperation withone or more satellite controllers 622, a remote central control 752 incooperation with a plurality of additional irrigation controllers 130and/or satellite controllers 622, a distributed irrigation controller782 or the like. Still further, for simplicity, the system 1250 is shownwith the irrigation controller 130 unassociated with a buildings 320.Again, it is noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat the irrigation controller 130 of the system 1250 can be associatedwith one or more buildings 320, properties and the like as describedabove and further below.

The irrigation controller 130 provides control over the irrigation, atleast in part, based on one or more water budgets, that are typicallydefined over a budget period or that are associated with an irrigationevent. Additionally, the irrigation controller 130 determines waterusage or estimates water usage without the use of a meter, flow sensoror other water usage measurement device. In some embodiments, theirrigation controller may be provided with usage information, such asfrom a user, that correlates with one or more irrigation events.Additionally or alternatively, the irrigation controller can estimatewater usage calculated based on one or more factors, such as but notlimited to estimated water pressure, water pipe size(es), types andnumber of water deliver devices (e.g., type of sprinkler, drip, etc.),irrigation runtime(s), and other such factors. Utilizing the providedwater usage correlation and/or calculated water usage the irrigationcontroller can track water usage relative to the water budget and takeactions when the estimated water usage exceeds a budget and/or ispredicted to exceed a budget relative to a budget period. Further asdescribed above and further below, the irrigation controller 130 can useone or more volumetric water budgets in determining whether irrigationshould be adjusted to maintain water usage within the prescribed one ormore water budgets.

Additionally, as introduced above and fully described below, theirrigation controller can provide information to a user based on theevaluation of estimated water usage relative to the one or more waterbudgets. For example, the irrigation controller 130 can still displaycalculated water use information, budget information, predicted costinformation, provide warnings relative to usage and the budgets, andother such information as described fully below.

FIG. 13 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 1320 for use incontrolling irrigation relative to a water budget. In step 1322, theirrigation controller 130 receives and/or determines a water budget. Thewater budget can be entered into the irrigation controller 130 by a userthrough a user interface, received in communications from the meter 122,received from over a distributed network 624 (e.g., an intranet, localarea network, the Internet or other relevant distributed networks),wirelessly received and/or other such methods. In some implementations,the water budget is communicated from a water authority. For example,the water authority may have communication capabilities with the meter122 that can forward the information to the irrigation controller 130;may communicate with the irrigation controller 130 via a distributednetwork, such as the Internet; may forward the information to a portablestorage medium (e.g., a magnetic strip, a thumb drive, a memory stick,an optical disc and the like) that can be accessed by the irrigationcontroller 130; wirelessly transmit the water budget (e.g., via radiofrequency communication); forwarded through a notification (e.g., paper,email, radio broadcast, or other such notification) to a user allowingthe user to enter the budget; and other such methods. Further, the waterbudget can be defined as a fixed volume of water, can be defined as acost of water that the irrigation controller 130 can use to calculate avolumetric water budget, can be defined as runtimes relative to knownflows, or other such budgets or combinations of budgets.

In step 1324, water usage information is received and/or calculated. Thewater usage information can be a continued accumulation of water use, apulse of predefined flow or amount of water, or other such indication ofwater usage. In some instances, the water usage information can beprovided relative to the predefined budget period relative to the waterbudget. As one example, the meter 122 can supply a measured amount ofwater use from a previous reading, while in other instances, themeasured water usage is a continuous counting of defined volumes ofwater (e.g., a gallon). In some instances the water usage is calculated.For example, flow rates can be detected, such as from the meter 122 ormeter 422. Additionally or alternatively, water usage or an estimate ofwater usage can be calculated based on irrigation run times, knowledgeof water delivery devices 132, water pressure and/or other such factors.

In optional step 1326, it is determined whether further restrictions onwater usage and/or irrigation are to be applied. In those instanceswhere further restrictions are to apply step 1330 is entered todetermine whether the identified restrictions dictate that the currenttime or event being evaluated is restricted as a non-irrigation time orevent (e.g., restrictions dictate that irrigation should not beimplemented at a specified time, for a specified event, over a definedperiod of time, on the current day, over a specified irrigation zone orzones, and/or other designations). In those instances where restrictionsdictate that irrigation should not occur the process 1320 terminateswith respect to the time or event being evaluated and can be repeatedany number of times relative to other times or events, includingmultiple times during a single budget period, a single day and the like.Alternatively, step 1332 is entered to apply any further restrictions,such as when implementing adjustments to irrigation scheduling (e.g.,irrigation is limited to occur between 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM, and othersuch restrictions).

In step 1334, the water usage is evaluated relative to the water budget.For example, the evaluation can include determining whether the wateruse has a predefined relationship relative to the water budget. In thoseinstances where the evaluation indicates that one or more actions shouldbe taken, for example the water use has a predefined relationshiprelative to the water budget, step 1336 is entered where the irrigationcontroller 130 takes action relative to further irrigating. This actioncan include reducing water usage, increasing irrigation runtimes forexample when irrigation run times were previously reduced due to earlyevaluations of water usage, skipping irrigation events, skipping days ofirrigation, preventing irrigation on one or more zones, reducingirrigation runtimes, and other such actions and combinations of actions.Alternatively, when the evaluation of the water usage does not recommendaction be taken (e.g., the water use does not have the predefinedrelationship with the water budget) step 1340 is entered whereirrigation is implemented and/or allowed to proceed as scheduled,including scheduled in accordance with previous adjustments toirrigation scheduling (e.g., where based on prior evaluations ofirrigation water usage the irrigation schedule was adjusted to reduceirrigation runtimes).

The predefined relationship of the water usage relative to the waterbudget can depend on many factors including the capabilities of theirrigation controller 130 and the information available to theirrigation controller. For example, the predefined relationship may be adetermination of whether water usage has exceeded the water budgetwithin the give budget period of time. In other instances, therelationship may be based on an estimated and/or predicted further useof water during the defined budget period. Additionally, the predefinedrelationship may take into consideration non-irrigation water usage(e.g., water use within a building 320) as well as irrigation use.Further, priorities may be taken into account when determining thepredefined relationship and whether the water use has the predefinedrelationship, for example, water use within the building may be definedas a higher priority than water use for irrigation.

The process 1320 described above can similarly be implemented, in someembodiments, while applying more than one water budget. For example,there may be a billing period water budget as well as a daily or weeklywater budget. As such, the process 1320 may take into account eachrelevant budget and/or repeat the process for each relative budget,which may take into account prior adjustments made in attempts to complywith previously evaluated water budgets. For example, the process 1320may evaluate water usage relative to a monthly water budget andpotentially make adjustments to irrigation relative to the evaluatedwater usage in relation to the monthly budget, and then further evaluatepredicted irrigation water usage relative to a given daily water budgetand/or irrigation event budget and potentially make further adjustmentsrelative to the intended irrigation.

As described above, the water usage can be provided to the irrigationcontroller 130 or the irrigation controller can determine the waterusage based on one or more parameters. For example, in someimplementations, the irrigation controller 130 receives water usageinformation from the meter 122 (and/or meter 422 when relevant). Thisinformation can be a continuously accumulating amount, an accumulatedamount over a specified period, an accumulated amount relative to a lasttime water usage information was provided or other relevant information.The irrigation controller 130 can then determine a water usage relativeto the budget period.

FIG. 14 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 1410, accordingto some embodiments, to determine the current water usage relative to acurrent budget period when water usage data is provided to theirrigation controller 130 as continuous accumulated water usage, such asdata that might be provided from standard water meters at a house. Instep 1412, water usage data is received. Again, the usage data can besupplied from one or more different sources. In step 1414, it isdetermined whether a new budget period has started since a previoususage data was received. In those instances where a new budget periodhas started step 1416 is entered where a prior accumulated use value isset equal to the received current use data, where the prior accumulateduse value defines an accumulated water usage (e.g., as received from themeter, which again in this example may be supplying a continuousaccumulation or counting of the water usage) at the beginning of thecurrent budget period. In some instances, a non-irrigation usage valueis further reset in step 1416.

In step 1420, the prior accumulated water use value is subtracted fromthe current usage data. In step 1422, it is determined whether the waterbudget is an irrigation water budget and applied exclusively toirrigation water usage. For example, when the water budget only appliesto an amount or volume of water that can be used for irrigation, anddoes not take into consideration other water usage at the property(e.g., household water usage), then the process 1410 advances to step1424. In step 1424, an accumulated non-irrigation water usage value isdetermined and subtracted from the current water usage determined instep 1420 to provide a revised current water usage relative toirrigation. In step 1426 the current water usage relative to the currentwater budget is set equal to the usage determined in step 1420 or step1424.

In other implementations the current water usage may be provided by themeter 124, 422 relative to the current budget period (e.g., anaccumulation for the current budget period, a daily accumulation, usageduring an irrigation period, or other such usage information). In stillother instances, the current water usage may be calculated by theirrigation controller 130 based on prior irrigations. For example, theirrigation controller 130 may receive flow data from the meter 122and/or one or more flow meters 422 (such as meter exclusive for theirrigation). Based on the flow data, the irrigation controller 130 candetermine based on an irrigation run times the amount and/or volume ofwater delivered through the irrigation system for a given irrigationcycle. Each calculated water use for each irrigation cycle during thebudget period can be accumulated to determine a total current waterusage data.

FIG. 15 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an example process 1510used in evaluating the received or determined water usage relative to awater budget according to some embodiments. In some instances, theprocess 1510 can be utilized to implement some or all of step 1334 ofthe process 1320 of FIG. 13. In step 1512 it is determined whether areceived, determined or calculated current water use exceeds a firstwater budget. This determination can be based on the volume of waterused, a cost of the water or other such comparisons. In those instanceswhere the water budget has not been exceeded, the process 1510 skips tostep 1546 to determine whether a further water usage budget is definedthat is to be evaluated, such as to determine whether there is a furtherwater budget that is specific for irrigation. Again, the water usagebudget may not be limited to irrigation usage, but instead may includeother water usage at a property (e.g., where a meter 122 tracks usage ofboth non-irrigation water use and irrigation water use, such as depictedin FIG. 3).

When it is determined, in step 1512, that the water usage budget hasbeen exceeded step 1514 is entered where it is determined whethercontinued water use may be allowed in excess of the water budget beingevaluated. For example, the water usage budget may define a guidelineusage and not a maximum, may define one tier of a plurality of tiers ofwater usage budgets (e.g., the cost per unit of water may increase whenentering a subsequent tier) or other instances where the water usagebudget may be exceeded. In those instances where the water usage budgetcannot be exceeded (e.g., there are no tiers or the budget defines amaximum tier, the user defines that the budget cannot be exceed, oncethe budget is exceeded further irrigation is not allowed, or other suchfactors), step 1516 is entered preventing further watering during thespecified budget period. In some instances, the process 1510 may furtherinclude step 1518, where an alarm, warning or other relevantnotification is provided. For example, the irrigation controller 130 mayshow a warning on the display 882 of the irrigation controller 130, maygenerate an audible alarm, may illuminate one or more lights and/orflash one or more lights, or other such indicators. Alternatively oradditionally, an alarm or other notification may be provided to the userthrough the separate display device 324, or a notification can be sentthrough some other communication mechanisms, such as an email, automatedtelephone call, a text message or other relevant communication. Someembodiments may additionally allow a user to instruct or define anoverride to allow irrigation even though the water usage budget has beenexceeded, may reset the water budget to a different or second level orbudget (e.g., a different tier knowing that the cost would be greater)or other such overrides. In this instance, the process 1510 might returnto step 1512 to further evaluate the override water budget relative tothe water usage.

When it is determined in step 1514 that the water usage budget canpotentially be exceeded, the process continues to step 1520 to determinewhether the water budget is a tiered budget or whether there is a secondbudget greater than the first budget that may apply. In those instanceswhere the water budget does not define one tier of a plurality of tiersthe process 1510 skips to step 1526 to determine whether there areinstructions to exceed the water usage budget. Alternatively, step 1522is entered to determine whether a higher tier or secondary budget isavailable allowing the use of additional water in excess of the currentwater budget being evaluated. When no further tiers are available, theprocess 1510 returns to step 1516 to prevent further irrigation.

In step 1524, a notification is generated to notify the user(s) that thecurrent tier budget is exceeded. Again, this notification can be throughthe irrigation controller 130, the remote display device 324, or othercommunications. Similarly, a water authority and/or other third partymay additionally or alternatively be notified in some instances, whichmay allow the water authority to take action (e.g., shutting off furtherwater usage, such as by using the shut off valve 424). In step 1526, itis determined whether instructions were previously received to exceed acurrent tier budget. In some instances a user may predefine or specifyauthorization to exceed a first water budget tier, for example, becausethe user is willing to pay costs associated with exceeding the firstwater budget tier.

When instructions or other authorization were previously received, theprocess 1510 skips to step 1546. Alternatively, the process continues tostep 1530 where a request for instructions is issued regarding furtherirrigation and/or exceeded a current budget and/or tier. In someinstances, this notification may additionally specify an estimatedadditional cost to exceed the current budget. For example, theirrigation controller 130 may have information about or may be able toacquire information about penalties for exceeding a current water budgettier and/or increased costs per unit volume of additional water usage inexcess of the budget tier. Similarly, the irrigation controller 130 maybe able to estimate the total cost for the remainder of the budgetperiod to continue to irrigate at current levels and/or at adjustedlevels. For example, the irrigation controller 130 may be able topredict an amount of water to be used for irrigation through theremainder of the budget period and provide an estimated cost, where theestimate can be based on current irrigation levels, adjusted levels asdescribed below, or both provided.

In step 1532 it is determined whether instructions have been received toavoid exceeding the budget and/or prevent further irrigation. In thoseinstances where instructions are received to prevent further irrigationthe process returns to step 1516 to prevent further irrigation.Alternatively, in step 1534 it is determined whether instructions arereceived to exceed the current water budget. In those instances whereinstructions are received the process 1510 terminates and allows furtherirrigation, for example, returning to step 1336 to implement irrigationafter steps to adjust further irrigation, or to step 1340 to implementirrigation without further adjustments in accordance with the process1310 of FIG. 13. In some implementations, when authorization toimplement irrigation is received in step 1534, the instruction maydesignate adjustments to be implemented, where the adjustments mayrequest that adjustments be made relative to certain parameters (e.g.,scale runtimes, adjust evapotranspiration (ET) values or other suchadjustments as introduced above and further described below), specify anamount of reduction, specify a further budget, define zone priorities,or other such factors.

In those instances where instructions are not received in step 1534 theprocess continues to step 1536 to determine whether a threshold timeperiod has exceeded in waiting for instructions in accordance with step1534. In those instances where the threshold time period has not elapsedthe process returns to step 1532 to determine whether instructions arereceived. Alternatively, step 1540 is entered where it is determinedwhether predefined minimum irrigation is defined for one or more zones140. This can be defined in attempts to ensure that some zones receivesome irrigation regardless of whether the budget is exceeded. Forexample, a zone delivering water to a vegetable garden may be given aminimum irrigation so that the vegetables do not die or die at a slowerrate than other plant life. This minimum irrigation may define thatcertain zones are irrigated and at specific minimum amounts of water;minimum irrigation may be activated when a specific ET (which oftenmight be an extreme ET) is exceeded to irrigate certain zones and atspecific minimum amounts of water, at a reduced ET value or a percentageof the specific ET; minimum irrigation may be activated when an extremesoil moisture level is exceeded to irrigate certain zones and atspecific minimum amounts of water; and/or other such minimumirrigations. When there is no minimum irrigation defined, the process1510 returns to step 1516 to prevent irrigation. In some instances, theprocess may additionally or alternatively return to step 1534 tocontinue to request instructions. When there is a minimum irrigationdefined step 1542 is entered to set irrigation runtimes for the one ormore zones defined and at the defined minimums.

In step 1546, the process determines whether there is an irrigationwater budget that does not include other water use at the site orproperty being evaluated. In those instances where there is not aspecific irrigation water budget the process 1510 terminates, which mayinclude returning to step 1516. In some instances, a separate predictiveprocess may be activated to predict whether continued water use duringthe budget period may exceed the water budget. In those instances wherethere is an irrigation water budget the process continues to step 1548to determine whether water usage has been evaluated relative to theirrigation water budget, e.g., determining whether the evaluation insteps 1514-1542 have been evaluating water usage relative to thespecific irrigation water usage.

When the water usage has been evaluated relative to the irrigationbudget the process may terminate and in some instances activate asubsequent process to evaluate predicted use over the budget period.Alternatively, when the water usage has not been evaluated relative tothe irrigation budget step 1550 can be entered to determine whether thedetermined water usage is based solely on irrigation usage. Again, insome instances the water usage information may be based on usage at agive property, including non-irrigation usage. When the water usage isobtained based solely on irrigation usage the process terminates toallow irrigation and/or in some instances activates a subsequent processto predict whether water use might exceed the water budget over thespecified budget period. Step 1552 is entered when the water usage isnot based solely on irrigation usage where the water usage informationis adjusted to eliminate non-irrigation water usage. The process 1510then returns to step 1512 to evaluate the irrigation water usagerelative to an irrigation water budget when appropriate.

Again, in some instances multiple budgets may simultaneously apply towater usages. As such, the process 1510 may be repeated or relevantportions of the process may be repeated for each of the multiple waterbudgets applicable, such that in some embodiments water usage and/orpredicted water usage can again be determined and/or re-predicted, andirrigation can be further adjusted or readjusted relative to furtherbudgets. For example, there may be a billing period water budget and adaily or irrigation event water budget. As such, the process 1510 mayinitially evaluate water usage relative to the billing period waterbudget then repeat at least relevant portions of the process inevaluating water usage relative the daily water budget and/or irrigationevent water budget.

FIG. 16 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 1610, accordingto some embodiments, for use in predicting whether continued water usemay exceed a specified water budget over the budget period, and/orpredicting whether continued water use may exceed one or more specifiedwater budgets over relevant budget periods. In step 1612, a predictwater usage is determined and/or calculated for the budget period orremainder of the budget period. This predicted use can be based on oneor more factors, such as but not limited to current runtimes, theirrigation schedule, historic information, environmental conditions,weather data, predicted weather data, flow rates and other suchparameters as described in more detail below. Additionally, thepredicted water usage typically takes into consideration the water usageto date over the budget period, for example, the water usage from abeginning of the current budget period until a current time whenevaluating the water usage. Again, the considered water use may belimited to irrigation water use, or may additionally take intoconsideration some or all of the non-irrigation water use at theproperty. The water use in some embodiments comprises an accumulation ofwater usage over multiple irrigation cycles, while the predicted wateruse over the budget period can include the water use and predicted wateruse for one or more water use events predicted to occur during thebudget period, where the predicted water use can similarly comprise anaccumulation of predicted water use for one or more irrigation cycles.In some instance the water usage is a factor of at least water usageduring the budget period from a start of the budget period until acurrent time when irrigation is to be implemented and evaluation ofwater usage is performed in response to identifying that irrigation isto be implemented, where the water use is typically limited to theproperty or properties where irrigation is under the control of theirrigation controller or controllers. For example, in some embodiments,the water usage can include an accumulation of water usage over eachirrigation cycle occurring from a beginning of the budget period until acurrent time when the evaluation of the water usage is being performed,and may additionally include non-irrigation water usage when relevant.

Further, in some implementations, the predicted water usage is based ona feedback and/or correlation of water usage to one or more parameters,such as but not limited to, a correlation with one or more of ET data,soil moisture levels and/or differences in moisture levels, weatherconditions and other such correlations. Processes 1710, 1810 and 1910 ofFIGS. 17-19, respectively, provide some example processes according tosome embodiments for use in predicting water usage. In step 1614, thepredicted water usage is evaluated with respect to the water budget todetermine whether the predicted water use is expected to exceed thewater budget for the given budget period. In those instances where it isestimated that the predicted water usage will not exceed the waterbudget during the budget period the process 1610 terminates and allowsirrigation to continue as controlled according to the irrigationschedule, environmental conditions and/or other such factors.

When it is predicted that the water usage may exceed the water budget,step 1616 is entered to determine whether the irrigation can be adjustedto avoid exceeding the budget. In some instances, this determination cantake into account non-irrigation water usage when relevant indetermining whether adjustments can be made to avoid exceeding the waterbudget. When adjustments can be made the process advances to step 1650to notify the user that adjustments are to be made. When adjustmentscannot be made to avoid exceeding the budget step 1618 is entered wherethe user is notified (e.g., alarm, remote display device 324, othercommunications) that the water budget is predicted to be exceeded. Instep 1620, it is determined whether the water budget can be exceeded.Again, in some instances the water budget may be a fixed budget thatcannot be exceeded due, for example, to water authority restrictions,user specified restrictions, limited water supply or other such factors.When the water budget cannot be exceeded the process 1610 continues tostep 1622 to prevent further watering in those instances where waterusage during the budget period does reach the water budget. In someinstances, the process may continue to step 1650 to notify the userregarding the status and potentially receive further instructions from auser in step 1652.

When it is determined in step 1620 that the water budget can be exceededstep 1624 is entered to determine whether the water budget is a tieredbudget. In some instances where the water budget does not define onetier of a plurality of tiers the process 1610 skips to step 1632 todetermine whether there are instructions to exceed the water usagebudget. Alternatively, step 1626 is entered to determine whether ahigher tier is available allowing the use of additional water in excessof the current water usage budget being evaluated, for example, at anincreased cost. In some instances, a water authority, the user or otherparty may limit the number of tiers that are available. Once water usageequals or exceeds a water budget for a maximum tier further water usageis prevented or otherwise restricted. As such, step 1626 determineswhether further tiers are available. When no further tiers areavailable, the process 1610 can return to step 1622 to prevent furtherirrigation once the water usage reaches the water budget.

When further tiers are available, step 1630 is entered to provide theuser (and/or one or more other entities) with notification that it ispredicted that the current tier budget is predicted to be exceeded. Instep 1632, it is determined whether instructions were previouslyreceived to exceed a current tier budget. When instructions werepreviously received, the process 1610 terminates to implement irrigationin accordance with the irrigation scheduled and/or an adjustedirrigation schedule as defined in the event that it is predicted thatthe budget might be exceeded. Alternatively, in step 1634 a request forinstructions is issued regarding further irrigation and/or exceeded acurrent budget and/or tier. As with the notifications, the request canbe displayed through the irrigation controller 130, the separate displaydevice 324, communicated to a separate device (e.g., email, textmessage, telephone call, or the like) or other such communications. Insome instances, this request may additionally specify an estimatedadditional cost to exceed the current budget. For example, theirrigation controller 130 may have information about or may be able toacquire information about penalties for exceeding a current tier,increased costs per unit volume of additional water usage and/or othersuch costs. Similarly, the irrigation controller 130 may be able toestimate the total cost for the remainder of the budget period tocontinue to irrigate at current levels and/or at adjusted levels. Forexample, the irrigation controller 130 may be able to predict an amountof water to be used for irrigation (and in some instances potentiallynon-irrigation uses as described below) through the remainder of thebudget period and provide an estimated cost, whether the estimate isbased on current irrigation levels or adjusted levels as describedbelow.

In step 1636 it is determined whether instructions have been received toexceed the current water budget. In those instances where instructionsare received the process 1610 terminates and allows further irrigation,for example, returning to step 1336 to implement irrigation after stepsto adjust further irrigation, or to step 1340 to implement irrigationwithout further adjustments in accordance with the process 1310 of FIG.13. In some implementations, when authorization to implement irrigationis received in step 1534, the instruction may designate adjustments tobe implemented, where the adjustments may request that adjustments bemade relative to certain parameters (e.g., scale runtimes, adjust ETvalues or other such adjustments as introduced above and furtherdescribed below), specify an amount of reduction, specify a furtherbudget, define zone priorities, or other such factors.

In those instances where instructions are not received in step 1636 theprocess continues to step 1640 to determine whether a threshold timeperiod has elapsed waiting for instructions. In those instances wherethe threshold time period has not elapsed the process returns to step1636 to determine whether instructions are received. Alternatively, whenthe threshold time period has elapsed step 1642 is entered to determinewhether a predefined minimum irrigation is defined for one or more zones140. When no minimum irrigation has been defined, the process returns tostep 1622 to prevent irrigation. In some instances, the process 1610 mayadditionally or alternatively return to step 1634 to continue requestinginstructions, and the threshold period of step 1640 may be adjusted, forexample, until a subsequently scheduled irrigation or evaluation ofwhether irrigation should be implemented. When there is a minimumirrigation defined for one or more zones 140 step 1644 is entered to setirrigation runtimes for the relevant zones defined and at the definedminimums.

In step 1650, an alarm is generated and/or other notification is issuedto the user regarding the predicted water usage relative to the waterbudget, the intent to adjust irrigation and/or the implementation of theminimum irrigation. In step 1652, it is determined whether an overrideis received from the user or potentially a third party (e.g., a user hasestablished sufficient credits or other relevant factors to allowfurther irrigation) to override adjustments and/or the minimumirrigation. When an override is not received the process advances tostep 1654 to adjust irrigation and when relevant implement irrigation inaccordance with the adjustments and/or the minimum irrigation. In someinstances, the process 1610 returns to step 1612 to recalculate thepredicted water usage providing an adjusted predicted water usage basedon the adjusted irrigation and to confirm in step 1614 that the adjustedirrigation results in an adjusted predicted water use over the budgetperiod that is not predicted to exceed the budget during the budgetperiod. When an override is received step 1656 is entered where theoverride is implemented, which may include implementing the irrigationwithout adjustments or implementing irrigation with adjustments that aredifferent than those determined by the irrigation controller 130. Someembodiments may further generate a notification of the override and/orprovide information about the predicted cost to exceed the budget.

As described above, some embodiments can predict water usage over thebudget period. Based on this prediction adjustments to the irrigationscheduling and/or runtimes may be implemented in attempts to limit waterusage and/or prevent exceeding the water budget. Predicting the waterusage can be implemented through one or more methods. Further,predicting the water use can take into account one or more factors ofnumerous potential factors. Some of these potential factors can include,but are not limited to, historic ET data (e.g., last year's ET data fora corresponding billing period, average of the last 10 years ET data fora corresponding month); average ET data from the previous “X” days;historic water delivery (last week, last year, etc.); historic weatherdata (last weeks weather, last years weather, weather data over the lastdecade for a corresponding billing period or other such timing); setirrigation run times and known flow rates; soil moisture; water tablelevels; and other such factors. In some instances the predicted waterusage is based, at least in part, on an extrapolation, such as a linearextrapolation, based upon relative weighting of inputs, such as priorwater usage, ET data, predicted weather and the like.

FIG. 17 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 1710, accordingto some embodiments, used in predicting an amount of water use over thebudget period or a remainder of a budget period. This process 1710 canbe used, in some embodiments, to implement some or all of step 1612 ofthe process 1610 of FIG. 16. In step 1712, a predicted volume or amountof water to be delivered for irrigation (PV_(Irr)) is calculated. Forexample, in some implementations this predicted volume of water may becalculated as the sum of the predicted irrigation water usage for thepredicted irrigation events, occurrences or days remaining in the budgetperiod:

$\begin{matrix}{{PV}_{Irr} = {\underset{1}{\sum\limits^{IrrEvnt}}\left( {\underset{1}{\sum\limits^{n\mspace{14mu} {zones}}}\left( {\left( \text{runtime} \right)*\left( \text{flow~~rate} \right)} \right)} \right)}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 1}\end{matrix}$

where: “IrrEvnt” is the predicted irrigation event of the potentialirrigation events over the remainder of the budget period whereirrigation is anticipated to be activated; “n zones” is the predictednumber of zones to be irrigated for the corresponding irrigation events;“runtime” is the scheduled, calculated or predicted runtime (e.g., basedon ET data, weather data, soil moisture and/or other such factors asdescribed above and further below) for the corresponding zones; and“flow rate” is the calculated, learned or determined water flow rate forthe corresponding zones. The predicted runtimes may be based onscheduled runtimes, vary from irrigation event to event and/or day today as a result of predicted conditions (e.g., weather data, ET data,soil conditions and the like), or may be predicted based on otherfactors.

In step 1714 it is determined whether the defined water budget appliesto the sum of the irrigation and non-irrigation water usage. When it isdetermined in step 1714 that the water budget includes non-irrigationwater usage the process 1710 advances to step 1720 to determinenon-irrigation water use. Alternatively, when the water budget does notinclude non-irrigation water usage, step 1716 is entered where apredicted water usage (PWU) is calculated. As one example, the predictedwater usage (PWU) over the budget period can be set to equal the sum ofthe measured irrigation water usage during the current budget and thepredicted volume of water to be delivered for irrigation (PV_(Irr)) overthe remainder of the budget period:

PWU=(previously measured usage+PV_(Irr))  Eq. 2

The measured irrigation water usage can be an actual measure ofirrigation water usage, a calculated irrigation water usage (e.g., bysubtracting out determined non-irrigation water usage), or estimatedwater usage (e.g., by estimating, learning and/or knowing flow rates andprior runtimes during the current budget period). The process thenadvances to step 1724.

When the water budget applies to both irrigation and non-irrigationwater use as determined in step 1714, the process continues to step 1720where non-irrigation water use (NIWU) is predicted for the remainder ofthe budget period. For example, a predicted daily non-irrigation wateruse can be calculated as a daily average non-irrigation water usecalculated from the non-irrigation water use of a defined number ofprevious days. In other instances, a more detailed evaluation of days orevents can be implemented, for example, by predicting a dailynon-irrigation water usage based on knowledge of the day being predicted(e.g., whether the day is a week day or a day during the weekend,whether there is knowledge of a vacation planned, or other suchfactors).

In step 1722, a predicted water usage (PWU) is calculated. For example,the predicted water usage can be calculated by multiplying the predicteddaily non-irrigation water use by the number of days remaining in thebudget period (which may include the current day or a portion of thecurrent day (e.g., a percentage based on time), depending on when thepredictions are determined), and adding the total to the predictedirrigation water usage for the predicted irrigation events, days or thelike over the remainder of the budget period plus the previouslymeasured usage over the current budget period:

PWU=((Days remaining*NIWU)+PV_(Irr)+previously measured usage),  Eq. 3

where the “Days remaining” is the number of days remaining in thecurrent budget period; the NIWU is, in this example, the predicted dailynon-irrigation water usage; the PV_(Irr) is the predicted volume oramount of water to be delivered for irrigation over the remaining budgetperiod (e.g., see equation 1 above); and the previously measured waterusage is the measured water usage at the property during the budgetperiod, e.g., as provided by the meter 122. As another example, thepredicted water usage can be calculated by summing predictednon-irrigation water use as calculated for a remainder of the budgetperiod (which may take into account additional factors when determiningpredicted usage), and adding the total to the predicted irrigation waterusage for the predicted irrigation over the remainder of the budgetperiod plus the previously measured usage over the current budgetperiod.

In step 1724 the predicted water usage is evaluated relative to thecurrent water budget. In some instances, step 1724 is implementedthrough other processes, such as in process 1310 of FIG. 13, process1610 of FIG. 16 or other processes. For example, it can be determined instep 1724 whether the predicted water usage is predicted to be greaterthan the current water budget. The process then terminates with thedetermination of whether the water budget is expected to be exceeded. Insome instances, the process may return to step 1614 of the process 1610to either allow irrigation or determine whether adjustments can beimplemented. The process 1710 can similarly be implemented and/orrepeated to predict water usage based on adjusted irrigation and apredicted water usage as a result of the adjusted irrigation.

FIG. 18A depicts a simplified flow diagram of an additional oralternative process 1810, according to some embodiments, used inpredicting an amount of water use over a budget period or a remainder ofa budget period. This process 1810 can be used, in some embodiments, toimplement some or all of step 1612 of the process 1610 of FIG. 16. Instep 1812 a current total water usage is set to a previously predictedwater usage. In those instances where a predicted water usage has notbeen calculated or is reset upon initiation of a new budget period thecurrent water usage may be set to zero. In step 1814 a predicted ET isdetermined. For example, the predicted ET can be set equal to acurrently calculated accumulated ET value. In another example, thepredicted ET can be based on a predicted ET for a give period of time,such as a month, a week, a budget period or other such predicted ET. Asdescribed above and further below, the predicted ET for the given budgetmay be based on historic data, such as historic ET, average ET data andother such information.

In step 1816 a predicted ET value for a period or event during thebudget period currently being evaluated is predicted. For example, apredicted daily ET can be predicted by determining a daily average ETfrom a predefined number of previous days is calculated. In otherexamples, historic ET values, weather data and/or predicted weather datamay additionally or alternatively be used in determining a day's ETvalue. As another example, a predicted daily ET value may be determinedby dividing an ET value for a given period by the number days in theperiod. As a specific example, a predicted budget period ET value forthe current budget period can be divided by the number of days withinthe budget period to obtain a predicted daily ET. In step 1818 apredicted ET value is calculated. In some embodiments, this predicted ETvalue is calculated as the sum of the day's predicted ET and thepreviously predicted ET. In other embodiments, the predicted ET may bethe sum of predicted daily ET values over the given budget period up toa current day being evaluated. In step 1820, it is determined whetherthe predicted ET has a predefined relationship with an ET threshold todecide whether irrigation should be activated for a given irrigationevent, on the day or other such period or event being evaluated, and assuch identifying the event being evaluated, of the potential events ofthe budget period, is a predicted irrigation event. In those instanceswhere irrigation should not be activated, step 1822 is entered, and thepredicted volume of irrigation water use (PV_(Irr)) for the predictedevent or period is set to zero (PV_(Irr)=0).

Alternatively, when the current event or period being evaluated isdetermined to be or predicted as an irrigation event or period, theprocess 1810 continues to step 1824 to determine a predicted volume ofwater (PV_(Irr)) to be delivered through irrigation for the given eventor period based on the predicted ET. In some embodiments, this predictedvolume of water can be determined as a function of a correlation ofmeasured water usage to ET data as described above and further below. Instep 1826, it is determined whether the water budget applies tonon-irrigation water usage as well as the irrigation water usage. Inthose instances where the water budget does not apply to non-irrigationusage and is limited to irrigation budgeting step 1830 is entered wherethe predicted water usage is defined as equal to the predicted volume ofwater (PV_(Irr)) for the predicted event or period plus the previouspredicted water usage, which can include measured water usage. Theprocess 1810 then advances to step 1836 to evaluate the predicted waterusage.

When it is determined in step 1826 that the water budget does apply toboth irrigation and non-irrigation water usage the process 1810continues to step 1832 to determine a predicted non-irrigation water usecorresponding to the event or budget period being evaluated. Again asdescribed above, the event's or period's predicted non-irrigation wateruse can be calculated, for example, as an average of determinednon-irrigation water usage of a predefined number previous days.Additionally or alternatively, the event's or period's correspondingnon-irrigation water usage (e.g., a day's non-irrigation water use) maytake into account other factors, such as knowledge of the day of theweek, where in the month the event or period being evaluated falls,current weather data, historic weather data, predicted weather data, orother such information or combinations of such information. In step 1834the predicted water use is calculated as factor of the previouspredicted water usage, the predicted volume of irrigation water(PV_(Irr)) for the predicted event or period and the predictednon-irrigation water use, such as the sum of the previous predictedwater usage plus the predicted volume of irrigation water (PV_(Irr)) forthe predicted event or period plus the predicted non-irrigation wateruse corresponding to the predicted event or period (e.g., a day'spredicted non-irrigation water usage).

In step 1836 the predicted water usage is evaluated relative to thewater budget to determine whether the predicted water usage exceeds thewater budget. In those instances where the predicted water usage exceedsthe water budget step 1838 is entered to note or otherwise record theprediction, and in some instances may generate a notification. Theprocess 1810 can then continue to step 1840 to determine whether thecurrent budget period is exhausted in those instances where it isdesired to evaluate the entire budget period. In other embodiments, theprocess 1810 may optionally terminate following the prediction that thebudget is to be exceeded, and can return, in some instances, to step1614 with the knowledge that the water budget is predicted to beexceeded. In step 1840, it is determined whether budget period has beenfully evaluated, for example determining whether the all of the days ofa current budget period have been exhausted, and considered relative topredicted irrigation and that irrigation usage relative to the budget.When the budget period has been fully considered, the process 1810terminates and, in some instances, may returns to step 1614 with theknowledge that it is predicted that the budget will not be exceeded. Inthose instances where further consideration of predicted water usageduring the budget period is to be performed the process 1810 continuesto step 1842 to advance or increment within the period, such asincrement a day or a potential irrigation event within the budgetperiod. The process then returns to step 1816 to again determine apredicted ET for an event or period to be evaluated and continue theevaluation of the water usage relative to the budget until the budgetperiod is exhausted.

FIG. 18B depicts a simplified flow diagram of an additional oralternative process 1870, according to some embodiments, used inpredicting an amount of water use over a budget period or a remainder ofa budget period. In step 1872, a measured, calculated or estimated waterusage up to a current time within the budget period is determined. Instep 1874, a predicted event or period ET value is determined as afunction of a predicted ET value over the budget period. For example,the predicted event or period ET can be a predicted daily ET where apredicted budget period ET can be divided by the number of days withinthe budget period to obtain a predicted event ET. In step 1876, apredicted water usage as a result of the event or over the period iscalculated as a function of the predicted event ET. For example, acorrelation of ET to water usage can be utilized to predict an eventwater usage as a function of the predicted event ET.

In step 1880 a predicted irrigation water usage over the remainder ofthe budget period is calculated as a function of the predicted ET forthe remainder of the budget period. For example, when the predictedirrigation water usage calculated for the predicted event ET is apredicted daily water usage, then a predicted irrigation water usageover the remainder of the budget period can be calculated by multiplyingthe predicted daily water usage by the number of days where watering isanticipated. In step 1882, a total predicted water usage over the budgetperiod is calculated by summing the water use during the period and thepredicted water use over the remainder of the period. In step 1884, itis determined whether non-irrigation water use is to be included in theevaluation of water use. In those instances where non-irrigation use isto be included the process continues to step 1886 to predictnon-irrigation water use over the remainder of the budget and update thetotal predicted water use over the remainder of the budget period byincluding the predicted non-irrigation water use. The process thenterminates and returns to step 1614.

FIG. 19 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an additional oralternative process 1910, according to some embodiments, used inpredicting an amount of water consumption over a budget period or aremainder of a budget period as a function of ET data. This process 1910can be used, in some embodiments, to implement some or all of step 1612of the process 1610 of FIG. 16. Similarly, the process 1910 can be usedin place of or in cooperation with one or both of processes 1710 and1810, or in place of or in cooperation with other such processes. Instep 1912 a current water usage parameter is set equal to a predictedwater usage. In those instances where a predicted water usage has notbeen calculated or is reset upon initiation of a new budget period thecurrent water usage may be set to zero. In step 1914, a predicted ETvalue is set equal to a current accumulated ET. Further in someinstances, an ET parameter other than an accumulated ET can be applied.For example, an averaged ET value may be calculated from a plurality ofET values obtained over one or more days, a weighted ET value may beobtained by weighting different ET values differently to obtain aresulting ET value, or other such ET calculations and/or determinations.

In step 1916, an average ET is calculated, for example, by averaging apredefined number of days or other relevant periods for which ET data isdefined (e.g., week, month or other such periods). In some instanceswhere there is only a single ET value available the average ET can beset to that single value, and similarly when there are less than thepredefined number of days of ET values the average ET can be set to theaverage of those limited number of ET values, or other data may beutilized in addition to the previous ET data or in place of the previousET data to predict the average ET.

Some embodiments optionally include step 1920, where a historic ET valueis determined. The historic ET data can be obtained from a remote source(e.g., remote service 730), pre-stored in the irrigation controller 130,based on prior received and/or calculated ET or average ET data, and/orother such sources. Further, the historic ET data can be historic ETdata for a specific month, day or other period, a given average for agiven period (e.g., average ET for a month in the prior year), or othersuch data. Optional step 1922 may also be included where a weighting isapplied to one or both of the average ET and historic ET, and apredicted irrigation ET value is calculated based on the average ET,historic ET, weighted average ET, weighted historic ET and/or acombination thereof.

In step 1924, a predicted ET is calculated as a function of the averageET and/or the historic ET. As one example, the predicted ET can becalculated as the sum of the average ET times a first weighting factorplus the historic ET times a second weighting factor (e.g., (averageET*0.7)+(historic ET*0.3)). The weighting can be substantially anyweighting and can depend on one or more factors. For example, in thoseinstances where there are insufficient numbers of previous days tocalculate a daily average ET, or where one or more of the previous daysET values is a drastic change in ET data the weighting of a dailyaverage ET can be reduced and/or set to zero, while the weighting of thehistoric ET can be increased. Other examples that can be used todetermine the predicted ET might include one or more of: predictedET=((3*average ET)+(2*historic ET))/5; predicted daily ET=((averageET)+(historic ET))/2; predicted daily ET=(average ET adjusted relativeto predicted weather); predicted daily ET=(historic ET adjusted relativeto predicted weather); predicted daily ET=((average ET adjusted relativeto predicted weather*weighting)+(historic ET adjusted relative topredicted weather*weighting)); or other relevant determinations. As yetanother example, a predicted ET can be calculated as the sum of aprevious accumulated ET and a predicted average ET, a previouslypredicted ET (e.g., a previously predicted ET for a preceding day) or ameasured or actual previous ET.

In step 1926, it is determined whether irrigation is allowed for acurrent irrigation event being evaluated (such as a current irrigationcycle being evaluated), on a current day being evaluated, over a currentperiod being evaluated or the like. In some instances, an irrigationschedule may define one or more irrigation cycles, days or other periodsas non-irrigation cycles, days or periods, respectively, whereirrigation is prevented. For example, a water authority may restrictirrigation to occur at a give property on only certain days (e.g., onlyon Monday, Wednesday and Saturday) and/or only at certain times (e.g.,between 8:00 PM and 6:00 AM); an irrigation schedule may dictate thatirrigation is not to be activated over certain times (e.g., betweensunrise and sunset), on a specific day of the month or a day of the weekor other such scheduled restrictions, for example to perform certainmaintenance; or other such factors that may dictate that a currentevent, day, date or period being evaluated is a non-irrigation event,day or period. When it is determined in step 1926 that irrigation is tobe prevented the process 1910 advances to step 1940.

When it is determined in step 1926 that irrigation is to be preventedrelative to the event, day or the like currently being evaluated theprocess continues to step 1930 to determine whether the water budgetapplies to both irrigation and non-irrigation water usage. In thoseinstances where the water budget does not apply to both and instead islimited to irrigation water usage the process advances to step 1960 todetermine whether the budget period has been fully evaluated.Alternatively, when the water budget does apply to both irrigation andnon-irrigation water usage the predicted water usage takes into accountthe non-irrigation water usage even when the event, day or other factorbeing evaluated is a non-irrigation event, day, period or the like. Assuch, step 1932 is entered when the budget includes the non-irrigationwater usage to determine a predicted non-irrigation water usage relativeto the event, day, period of the like. As introduced above, for example,a day's non-irrigation water usage can be determined based on one ormore factors, and in some instances, is an average of the measurednon-irrigation water usage for a predefined number of previous days(e.g., most recent seven (7) days), while in other instances, otherfactors may be taken into account. In step 1934, the predicted water useis set to equal the previous predicted water usage plus the predictednon-irrigation water use (no irrigation water usage is incorporated whenirrigation is predicted to be prevented with respect to the event, day,period or the like currently being evaluated). Following step 1934 theprocess 1910 advances to step 1960 to determine whether the budgetperiod has been fully considered.

When it is determined in step 1926 that irrigation may be implementedthe process continues to step 1940 to determine whether the predicted EThas a predefined relationship with an ET threshold indicating that it ispredicted that irrigation should be activated for the event, day, periodor the like being evaluated. In those instances where the predicted ETis insufficient to activate irrigation, step 1942 is entered where noirrigation is scheduled or predicted for the event, day, period or thelike being evaluated and the predicted volume or amount of water to bedelivered for irrigation (PV_(Irr)) corresponding to the given event,day, period or the like is set equal to zero. The process then skips tostep 1946 to evaluate non-irrigation water usage. Step 1944 is enteredin those instances where the predicted ET data would justify activatingirrigation, where the predicted volume of water to be delivered forirrigation (PV_(Irr)) of one or more zones is determined and/orcalculated based on predicted ET and the amount of water needed to besupplied in irrigation to compensate for the ET losses (or relativeweighting of the ET losses for example when adjustments have previouslybeen applied).

In step 1946 it is determined whether the water budget applies tonon-irrigation water usage plus the irrigation water usage. When thewater budget does not consider non-irrigation usage, step 1950 isentered where the predicted usage is set equal to the sum of thepredicted volume of water to be delivered in irrigation (PV_(Irr)) plusthe previously predicted usage. Alternatively, when the water budgettakes into account irrigation and non-irrigation water usage the process1910 continues to step 1952 to determine a predicted non-irrigationwater use relative to the event, day, period or the like beingevaluated. Again as described above, the non-irrigation usage can bedetermined from one of several different methods. In step 1954 thepredicted water usage is then set equal to the previously predictedwater usage plus the predicted volume for irrigation (PV_(Irr)) plus thecorresponding non-irrigation water use (e.g., predicted wateruse=previously predicted usage+predicted volume for irrigation(PV_(Irr))+daily average non-irrigation water use).

In step 1960, it is determined whether the current budget period hasbeen fully evaluated (e.g., each event, day, period, irrigation cycleand the like has been evaluated relative to the budget period). In thoseinstances where the budget period has been fully evaluated the process1910 terminates and returns to step 1614 with the indication that thewater budget is not predicted to be exceeded. When the budget period hasnot been fully considered the process continues to step 1962 toincrement an event, a day, a cycle, a period or the like, and theprocess then returns to step 1916 to determine a subsequent average ETand evaluate the predicted water usage relative to a subsequent day (orcycle) and the remainder of the budget period.

FIG. 20 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an example process 2010that can be employed to determine non-irrigation water usage. In step2012, it is identified that irrigation is to be initiated. In step 2014,water usage information is obtained. This water usage information can bea meter reading that is retrieved and/or received, such as from thelocal meter 122 or a separate irrigation water meter 422. Furthermore,the water usage information may be specifically obtained in response toa request from the irrigation controller 130 to the meter 122 for themeter reading, based on a most recently received reading for examplewhen the meter 122 periodically provides meter readings, or othersimilar readings.

In step 2016, a water usage since a preceding irrigation is determined.In some instances, this water usage since a preceding irrigation is afunction of the received meter reading and a previous meter reading. Forexample, when the meter 122 is a rolling meter that continues toaccumulate measured usage (including reaching a maximum value andlooping or returning to a zero state to continue to accumulate usage)the current usage can be the current usage since a previous reading,which can be determined by subtracting a previous meter reading from thecurrent meter reading. In some instances, the previous reading can be areading obtained immediately following a completion of a precedingirrigation.

In step 2020, it is determined whether there was non-irrigation waterusage while a preceding irrigation was active. For example, it can bedetermined whether there was water use inside a home 320 whileirrigation was actively being performed on plant life outside the home.This determination can be based on an amount of water used during anirrigation cycle, evaluations of water flow profiles, a differencebetween a reading at a local property meter (e.g., meter 122) and anirrigation meter (e.g., meter 422), and other such determinations. Inthose instances where there was no detected non-irrigation water usageduring a preceding irrigation, step 2022 is entered where the determinednon-irrigation water usage is set equal to the water usage since apreceding irrigation as determined in step 2016 plus a previouslydetermined non-irrigation usage, providing an accumulation ofnon-irrigation water usage during the budget period. As described above,at the beginning of a budget period the determined non-irrigation waterusage can be set to zero.

When it is determined in step 2020 that there was non-irrigation waterusage during the preceding irrigation step 2024 is entered where theamount of non-irrigation water use during the preceding irrigation isdetermined. This determination can be based on one or more factors, suchas evaluating water flow and/or a water flow profile during irrigation,taking into account variations in water pressure (e.g., by measuringwater pressure over time, during events or each event, receiving waterpressure information from remote source or pressure meter, or the likeor a combination thereof) and/or other variable factors, comparing meterreadings prior to and following irrigation, comparing meter readingsprior to and following irrigation of a zone or a plurality of zones,comparing water usage relative to water usage during prior irrigations,a difference between a reading at a local property meter (e.g., meter122) and an irrigation meter (e.g., meter 422), or other such factors orcombinations of such factors. In step 2026, the non-irrigation waterusage is set equal to the determined water usage since the precedingirrigation plus the non-irrigation usage during the preceding irrigationplus a previously determined non-irrigation usage.

FIG. 21 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an exemplary process 2110that can be implemented, in accordance with some embodiments, todetermine non-irrigation water usage while irrigation is active duringan irrigation cycle or period. In step 2112, it is identified thatirrigation is to begin on a given zone. In step 2114, an initial meterreading is obtained prior to activating irrigation for the given zone.In step 2116, the irrigation is activated for the given zone. In step2120, it is detected that irrigation on the given zone has completed. Instep 2122, a subsequent meter reading is obtained following theconclusion of irrigation for the given zone, and prior to activating asubsequent zone if further zones are to be activated.

In step 2124, a current zone water usage is calculated as a function ofthe two meter readings, for example, by setting the current zone waterusage equal to the subsequent meter reading obtained in step 2122 minusthe initial meter reading obtained in step 2114. In step 2126, it isdetermined whether an expected water usage for the given zone is known.This expected water usage can be based on prior measurements; calculatedbased on water flow; calculated based on parameters such as, but notlimited to, water pressure, pipe size, runtime; type (or types) of waterdelivery devices; or other such factors or combinations of such factors.For example, the expected water usage for the given zone can be based onseveral prior days' or irrigation events' water usage for the givenzone, and typically where there was or appeared to be no non-irrigationwater usage or where compensations were made for non-irrigation wateruse. When an expected water usage for the given zone is known theprocess 2110 advances to step 2140.

Alternatively, when an expected water usage for the given zone is notknown the process can continue, in some embodiments, to attempt todetermine or calculate an expected water usage for the given zone. Instep 2130, it is determined whether the water usage for the given zonehas been tracked for a defined number of cycles, events, days or othersuch periods. When the water usage has not been tracked for the definednumber of cycles, events or days the process advances to step 2136. Inthose instances where water usage for the given zone has been trackedfor the defined number of events, cycles, days or other period step 2132is entered to determine whether is current zone water usage differs by athreshold amount from one or more previous irrigation periods or cyclesfor the given zone. This evaluation allows a determination of whetherthere is a deviation from typical or predicted use, and whether thecurrent usage should be considered in determining a known water usagefor the given zone. The threshold deviation allows for some deviationthat may result, for example due to minor changes in water pressure orother factors, but limits the variations to within a boundary to obtainconsistency. The process advances to step 2136 when there is a deviationgreater than a threshold. When the current water usage for the givenzone does not vary from previous usage by the threshold deviation theprocess 2110 continues to step 2134 to calculate a known water usage forthe given zone, such as calculating an average zone water usage usingthe water usage over the defined number of cycles, events, days or othersuch period, apply a weighting to one or more of the previous determinedzone water usages or other such calculations. The process then advancesto step 2140.

Step 2136 is entered when it is determined in step 2130 that there areless than the predefined number of cycles, events, days and/or periodsof water usage or when the determined zone water usage varies from otherprevious zone water usages for the given zone by the threshold amount.In step 2136 an estimated zone water usage is calculated. The calculatedestimate can be determined based on one or more factors, such as but notlimited to water flow, estimated water pressure, pipe size(es), typesand number of water deliver devices (e.g., type of sprinkler, drip,etc.), irrigation runtime, and other such factors.

In step 2140 it is determined whether the zone water usage is greater bya threshold amount than the known water usage for the give zone orgreater by a threshold amount than the estimated water usage for thegive zone in deciding whether there was some non-irrigation water usage,a leak or other issue that should be taken into account. The thresholdmay vary depending on whether there is a known water usage or anestimated water usage to provide greater variance and margins of error.Similarly, different thresholds may be applied depending on how theestimated water usage is calculated, the amount and/or type of dataavailable to calculate the estimated water usage, and other suchfactors.

The process 2110 continues to step 2144 when it is determined in step2140 that the zone water usage is greater than the known water usage bymore than the threshold amount where the zone non-irrigation water usageis set equal to the zone water usage minus the known or estimated wateruse. In some implementations a margin of error may be included insetting the zone non-irrigation water usage, where the margin of errormay be based on one or more factors such as the reliability of the dataused in calculating the estimated zone water usage, the amount of dataavailable, or other such factors or combinations of factors.

In some embodiments, optional step 2146 is included where it isdetermined whether the zone non-irrigation water usage relativelyconsistent, such as determining whether the zone non-irrigation waterusage is within a threshold amount of the determined zone non-irrigationwater usage for one or more preceding irrigation periods or cycles. Thisallows for the potential detection of a problem with the irrigationsystem, such as the detection of a leak, a broken water deliver deviceor other such problem, based on a consistency of water usage in excessof the expected water usage for the given zone. Consistentnon-irrigation water usage occurs while the same zone is irrigated canbe a strong indicator of a potential problem.

In those instances where the excess water usage is relatively consistentthe process continues to step 2150 where a notification is generated,such as an audio alarm, a visual alarm, a notification on a display 882of the irrigation controller 130, a notification can be communicated tothe separate display device 324, a notification can be forwarded to aseparate user device (e.g., a wireless phone, a email, a text message,and the like), or other such notifications or combinations ofnotifications. In some instances, the amount of excess water and/or theincreased water flow can be further evaluated in attempts to potentiallyidentify the problem, and the notification can include an indication ofone or more potential problems, such as a potential broken sprinkler,broken pipe, leak, separated drip line or other such potential problemsand/or combinations of problems. Similarly a profile of the water flowmay additionally or alternatively be evaluated to aid in identifying thepotential problem. The notification can additionally identify the zonewhere the potential problem is being detected. Some embodiments canpotentially stop irrigation for that zone until instructions arereceived to proceed once the problem has been addressed or instructionsare received to override the error. Because the excess water usage isanticipated to be related to irrigation (e.g., an irrigation leak) theexcess water usage, at least in some implementations, should be appliedas irrigation water usage and not non-irrigation water usage. As such,in some embodiments, the process 2110 continues to step 2152 to furtherreset to zero the zone non-irrigation water usage for the given zone andthe given irrigation period or cycle (or the plurality of giveirrigation periods or cycles where the consistent water use exceeded theknown water use for the given zone), and instead maintain the measuredzone water usage as irrigation water usage as a leak within theirrigation system can still be defined as irrigation water usage. Theprocess then advances to step 2160 to determine whether furtherirrigation zones are to be evaluated. Similarly, when it is determinedin step 2146 that the zone non-irrigation water usage is within athreshold amount of previous zone non-irrigation water usage for one ormore preceding irrigation periods or cycles, the process advances tostep 2160.

When it is determined in step 2140 that the zone water usage is notgreater than the known or estimated water usage the process 2110advances to step 2142 where a zone non-irrigation water usage is set tozero. In step 2154 it is determined whether the given zone water usageis less than the known or estimated zone water usage for the zone by athreshold amount. Again, this evaluation can potentially detectalternative problems with the irrigation system, such as, but notlimited to blocked or clogged water delivery device, a faulty valve,communication and/or power problems, or other such problems orcombinations of problems. When there is a potential problem the processcontinues to step 2156 to generate a notification. Again, thenotification can be through one or more different types of notification,can include different types of information and/or can be providedthrough the irrigation controller 130 and/or distributed to otherdevices as described above and further below.

In step 2160, it is determined whether there are further zones toevaluate. In those instances where further zones are to be evaluated theprocess returns to step 2112 to again take a meter reading prior toactivating an irrigation for a subsequent zone or to step 2120 toinitiate a meter reading upon the completion of irrigation for thesubsequent zone when the prior meter reading at the termination of theprevious zone can effectively be used as the start meter reading for thesubsequent zone. Alternatively, when the zones have been evaluated step2162 is entered where a total non-irrigation water usage duringirrigation is calculated as the sum of the zone non-irrigation waterusage for each of the zones. As described above and further below, thenon-irrigation water usage can be used in predicting water usagerelative to the water budget.

It is noted that the process 2110 is described with reference to givenzones; however, the process 2110 can similarly be employed based on agiven irrigation instead of a given zone (e.g., by determining whetherirrigation water usage is different than an expected water usage duringthe given irrigation).

FIG. 22 shows a simplified flow diagram of a process 2210, according tosome embodiments, for use in determining whether irrigation should beadjusted based on a prediction of whether the water budget may beexceeded and/or whether adjustments can be made to increase irrigationwater usage because prior predictions were inaccurate. As introducedabove, some embodiments adjust the irrigation in attempts to keep waterusage below the specified water budget. By predicting water usage overthe budget period some embodiments can alter irrigation during thebudget period and prior to exceeding the water budget in attempts toavoid having to terminate irrigation and/or drastically scale backirrigation over a period of time resulting in potentially greater damageto plant life being irrigate. Some embodiments, however, additionallycan readjust irrigation runtimes when it is determined that priorpredictions were inaccurate (e.g., because precipitation was received).

In step 2212, a current water budget period is identified. Again, thebudget period can be substantially any relevant period, such as a day, aweek, a month, a rolling period or other such relevant periods, a billcycle set by a water authority for the property of interest, or othersuch period. Still further, some embodiments may apply a plurality ofbudgets, such as a monthly budget while also applying an irrigationevent and/or a daily budget within that monthly budget. The process 2110may be applied whether there is a single water budget or multiple waterbudgets over different budget periods. In step 2214, a water budget forthe current water budget period is determined. The water budget can beset by a user, set by a water authority, set by a community (e.g., acondominium community), or other such source. Similarly, the waterbudget can be entered into the irrigation controller 130 through a usermanually entering the water budget through the user interface 832,received from the water authority (e.g., via a portable storage medium,such as a memory stick, flash drive, magnetic strip device or other suchmedium; communicated over a wired and/or wireless connection, over localor distributed network; received via radio communication or other suchmethods), received from another authority (e.g., a home ownersassociation or other authority); received from the remote display device324 that is in wired, wireless, network and/or distributed networkcommunication with the irrigation controller 130, and/or received fromother sources.

In step 2216, a current water usage is received and/or calculated. Forexample, the current water usage could be received from a local meter ata property where irrigation is being controlled, such as the meter 122,a separate meter 422, or other such device or combination of devices. Instep 2220, one or more irrigation events, cycles, periods, days or thelike during a remainder of the budget period are identified, where anirrigation event can be an activation of irrigation, an irrigationcycle, the irrigation over one or more zones, a period of time, anirrigation day, and other such irrigation events. Further, an irrigationday is a day identified in which irrigation is to be activated and/orpredicted to be activated. As described above and further below, theirrigation may be based on a specified schedule, may be controlled inaccordance with environmental conditions, may be controlled based onsensor data, may be determined based on ET data, other such informationor one or more combinations of such information. As such, theidentification of whether an event is a predicted irrigation event candepend on the given event, cycle, day or the like, the irrigationschedule, the predicted environmental conditions, historic information,and/or other such parameters. For example, when irrigation is schedulebased, the schedule can be accessed to identify whether a given day(e.g., a Monday) is scheduled as an irrigation day. As another example,when irrigation is activated based on ET data, a predicted ET can bedetermined and once that predicted ET exceeds an ET threshold the eventcorresponding to when it is predicted that the ET data will exceed theET threshold would be considered an irrigation event. As yet anotherexample, when irrigation is based on a schedule with a rain orprecipitation override, it can be predicted whether a threshold amountof precipitation is expected that could designate one or more events asnon-irrigation events because of the override even though one or more ofthose events may be scheduled as irrigation event.

In step 2222, a predicted irrigation water usage is calculated for eachof the identified one or more irrigation events during the remainder ofthe budget period. The process 2210 then continues to step 2224 where asummation of the predicted irrigation water usage of the identified oneor more irrigation events is calculated. In step 2226, it is determinedwhether the water budget is limited to irrigation water usage or whetherthe budget applies to irrigation as well as non-irrigation water usagefor the property of interest (e.g., irrigation usage and in-home waterusage). When it is determined that the water budget is limited toirrigation, a predicted water usage for the budget period is determinedas a function of a measured, calculated or received current water usageover the budget period and the sum of the predicted irrigation waterusage. In some embodiments, the predicted water usage for the budget maybe calculated, such as the addition of the current water usage duringthe budget period and the sum of the predicted irrigation water usage.In some instances, the predicted water usage may be weighted and/ordiscounted depending, for example, on factors such as predicted accuracyof weather conditions, ET data and/or other such parameters used inpredicting water usage. The process 2210 then advances to step 2240 toevaluate the predicted water usage relative to the water budget.

In those instances where the water budget is not limited to irrigation,step 2232 is entered where a predicted non-irrigation water usagecorresponding to the event is determined for the r remainder of thebudget period. This predicted day's non-irrigation water usage can bebased on historic data, one or more previous days' non-irrigation waterusage, average usage and/or other such information. Additionally in someembodiments, a predicted non-irrigation water use is predicted forperiods of time, for example each day, remaining in the budget periodbecause of varying factors over different period of time. For example,water use during the week may be less than on weekends because ahomeowner is at work most of the day during the week, a known holidaymay fall within the budget period where it is anticipated that water usewill be greater on the holiday than other days, that a vacation isscheduled and that a home owner will not be at the property, and othersuch relevant factors. In some instances, the process 2110 can beemployed at least in part to determine non-irrigation water usage.

In step 2234, a predicted non-irrigation water usage is calculated as afunction of the predicted non-irrigation water usage for a remainder ofthe budget period. For example, a predicted average daily non-irrigationwater usage can be determined and multiplied by the number of daysremaining in the budget period. In other instances, a predicted averagedaily non-irrigation water usage may be weighted based on a specific day(e.g., less water usage on weekdays when home owners are typically atwork; a known holiday; a known vacation or designation that the expectedwater use may be reduce; and the like), when applied in calculating thenon-irrigation water usage. In yet other instances, historic data and/orprior non-irrigation water usage may be utilized in predictingindividual day's non-irrigation water usage.

In step 2236, a predicted water usage for the budget period iscalculated as a function of the measured and/or calculated current waterusage, the sum of the predicted irrigation water usage and the predictednon-irrigation water usage. In some instances, the predicted water usagefor the budget period is calculated as a sum of the current water usage,the sum of the predicted irrigation water usage and the predictednon-irrigation water usage. In other instances, however, weighting maybe applied for similar reasons as introduced above.

In step 2240, it is determined whether the predicted water usage ispredicted to exceed the water budget by a threshold amount the waterbudget for the current budget period. When it is predicted that thewater budget might be exceeded, step 2242 is entered to adjustirrigation to be implemented relative to one or more of the one or moreirrigation events when the predicted water usage is predicted to exceedthe water budget for the current budget period. In those instances whereit is not predicted to exceed the water budget step 2244 is entered todetermine whether the predicted water usage is less than the waterbudget, for example, less than the water budget by a threshold amount.By employing a threshold difference the process can avoid attempting tomake minimal adjustments that would not have much if any affect andfurther can limit erratic adjustments. In those instances wherepredicted water usage is not less than the water budget the process 2210terminates. Alternatively, the process advances to step 2246 todetermine whether prior adjustments and/or limitations were applied tothe irrigation schedule (e.g., because of prior predictions that thewater budget was going to be exceeded). When prior adjustments to reduceor limit irrigation were not implemented the irrigation schedule shouldstill be consistent with the schedule defined by the user and/or beingimplemented in accordance with environmental conditions (e.g., ET data),and as a result further increases are not needed. As such, when prioradjustments to limit irrigation were not implemented the processterminates. In those instances where prior adjustments were implementedstep 2250 is entered to implement adjustments to increase irrigationrelative to the identification that the predicted water usage is notexpected to exceed the water budget. In some embodiments, the predictedadjustments are used to recalculate the adjusted predicted water usageprior to implementing adjustments to confirm that the adjusted predictedwater usage is predicted not to exceed the water budget should theadjustments be implemented.

Again, by predicting water usage, the water usage can be adjusted inattempts to stay within the budget and/or limit by how much the budgetis exceeded. Similarly, the irrigation can be adjusted to increaseirrigation in those instance where prior predictions were inaccurate orthe actual usage was less than predicted (e.g., the temperature wasmilder than expected, rain was received or rain in excess of thatpredicted was received, a family was on vacation resulting in lessin-house water usage, or other such factors or combinations of factors).Similarly, the water usage and/or budget may be increased, for example,when additional water credits are acquired or a user is willing to payadditional costs associated with exceeding a budget. As such,adjustments to increase irrigation described above and below maysimilarly be implemented when budgets are increased or the limitsimposed by the budget are eliminated. In some embodiments, the process2210 or some of the steps of the process 2210 may be implemented toincrease irrigation when the budget is increased (e.g., through theacquisition of one or more water credits or the authorization to exceeda budget or tier) or the budget is eliminated.

As described above, some embodiments take actions and/or implementadjustments to try and keep the water usage within the water budget.There are numerous different actions that can be taken individually orin cooperation to try and adjust irrigation water usage in attempts tokeep the water usage within the water budget during the budget period.Some of these actions can include, but are not limited to: stoppingirrigation for the remainder of the budget period; stopping irrigationon one or more zones during the remainder of the budget period; stoppingirrigating on one or more zones (e.g., based on zone priority) for adetermined number of irrigation events, days or cycles (or one cycle ofmultiple cycles for an irrigation day), or other periods; reduceruntimes on one or more zones; stopping irrigation on one or more zonesand reducing runtimes on one or more other zones during one or moreselected irrigation events over the remainder of the budget period;applying a scaling factor; scaling sensor data; scaling ET data and/orvalues, scaling runtimes; and other such adjustments and/or combinationsof adjustments.

In implementing these adjustments one or more factors can be taken intoaccount and how the adjustments are implemented can vary depending onone or more factors. For example, in stopping irrigation on one or morezones during the remainder of the budget period, the zone selection canbe based, for example, on sensor information regarding conditions at thezones (e.g., soil moisture conditions); on zone priority; staggering theselected zones; round-robin selection; zone priority and round-robinselection; selecting based on zone priority and sensor data; and othersuch selections. Further, the zone priority might be determined, forexample, from specifically specified priority (e.g., user specified);based on specified plant life being irrigated through the zone; soiltype; ground slope; type or types of water delivery devices 134delivering water to the zone; sensor data (e.g., soil moisture, leaks,etc.); or other such factors or combinations of factors. Similarly, whenreducing runtimes on one or more zones for a selected number ofidentified irrigation events, the amount of reduction can be based onone or more factors such as, but not limited to, an estimated amount ofreduction over the remainder of the budget period, estimated amount ofreduction for the given irrigation event, predicted weather, and othersuch factors or combinations of factors. Additionally or alternatively,scaling factors can be applied, for example, to determined ET values(e.g., a percentage reduction) for a selected one or more identifiedirrigation events (e.g., reduce ET values by 30%); scaling soil moisturelevel reading when determining runtime relative to soil moisturelevel(s); scaling runtimes; and other such adjustments.

Further, as described above the adjustments can be reevaluated over thebudget period to determine whether further adjustments can or should bemade, such as further reducing irrigation or allowing increases inirrigation over prior reductions. These reevaluations can be preformedsubstantially any number of times, such as, but not limited to, eachday, prior to an irrigation event, prior to activating irrigation on anirrigation day, prior to each irrigation cycle, once a week, or othersuch times. Similarly, the reevaluation can take into account changes inwater usage, such as due to changes in water usage for other parts ofthe property such as household water usage increase or decrease (e.g.,family gone on vacation resulting is significant reduction in householdwater usage), weather changes resulting in adjustments in water usage,and other such changes. Additionally, the predicted water use andhistoric water use can be taken into account in determining adjustmentsto irrigation.

FIG. 23 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 2310, accordingto some embodiments, of adjusting irrigation, for example, in responseto predicting that a water budget may be exceeded during a correspondingbudget period. In some instances, the process 2310 may be utilized toimplement, for example, some or all of step 1336 of the process 1310 ofFIG. 13, some or all of step 2242 of the process 2210 of FIG. 22 and/orsome or all of other processes. In step 2312, an excess water usage isidentified as a function of the water budget and the predicted waterusage, where the excess water usage is an amount of water predicted tobe used in excess of the water budget. In some embodiments, the excesswater usage is set equal to the water budget minus the predicted waterusage (excess water usage=water budget−water usage). In otherembodiments weighting may be applied and/or other factors may be takeninto account. In some instances this predicted excess water usage isdetermined with a margin of error in attempts to limit lateradjustments. For example, the predicted water under usage may becalculated by subtracting the water budget from the predicted waterusage and subtracting a threshold or margin amount (e.g., excess waterusage=water budget−predicted water usage−margin).

In step 2314, a distribution of the excess water is determined. Forexample, a reduced water usage distribution is identified fordistributing reductions in irrigation corresponding to the excess waterusage across one or more zones and/or over identified one or morepredicted irrigation events or days. The reduced water usagedistribution over the identified predicted irrigation events or daysresults in a decrease in the predicted water usage such that thepredicted water usage, after adjustments, will fall within the waterbudget for the current budget period. There are numerous ways in whichthe reductions in irrigation relative to excess water usage can bedistributed and one or more factors can be taken into account inselecting how the distribution is to be implemented. In someembodiments, the excess water usage can be divided by the number ofremaining identified irrigation events to calculate an amount of waterthat is to be reduced during each identified irrigation event. In otherembodiments, the distribution may be weighted based on weatherconditions, expected or predicted weather, historic information, theamount of time remaining in the budget period, the types of plant lifebeing irrigated, area and/or zone priorities, and other such factors andcombinations of factors.

As one example, the distribution of reductions in irrigation may beweighted such that the reductions are greater toward the end of thebudget period with the knowledge that the beginning of the subsequentbudget period may allow for increases in the water usage for irrigation(e.g., identifying that there are only three days remaining in thebudget period, therefore, continue normal irrigation until the last dayof the current budget period and stop irrigation on one or more zones onthe last day of the current budget period). As another example, thedistribution of reductions in irrigation may be weighted or delayed tolater in the budget period when there is a forecast for precipitation inthe near future that may allow irrigation for some of the identifiedirrigation events to be suspended and compensating for the excess waterusage.

In step 2316, adjustments for predicted irrigation runtimes for one ormore irrigation zones are determined for one or more predictedirrigation events during the remainder of the current budget periodbased on the identified distribution of reductions in irrigationcorresponding to the excess water usage. Again, how the exactadjustments are implemented on an irrigation event can be based onnumerous factors as described above and further below. In someinstances, the zones may be prioritized. For example, there may be oneor more zones designated as lowest priority, where reductions in runtimeare initially directed to these zones. In calculating a reduction inruntime based on an identified excess water usage over the budget, inone example, the distribution of the reductions can be equallydistributed over the identified number of irrigation events remaining inthe budget period, with the runtimes for the one or more lowest priorityzones being reduced to compensate for the distributed reductions. Forexample, the lowest priority zones can be identified, the distributedreduction for the given irrigation event can be divided by the number oflowest priority zones to determine a runtime reduction to apply to eachof the lowest priority zones.

As a further example, according to some embodiments, adjustments toruntimes can be calculated by dividing the excess water usage (EWU) bythe number of irrigation events, which in this example can be irrigationdays, remaining in the period providing an irrigation day reduction,where the irrigation day reduction can further be divided by a number oflowest priority zones providing a zone reduction value. The adjustmentin runtimes for each zone can then be calculated by dividing the zonereduction value by a known or estimated flow rate for the respectivezone.

$\begin{matrix}{{\text{Zone~~Runtime~~Adjustment} = \frac{\left( {\left( \frac{EWU}{IrrDays} \right)\text{/}{zones}} \right)}{\text{Flow~~Rate}}},} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 4}\end{matrix}$

where “EWU” is the excess water usage; “IrrDays” is the number ofidentified irrigation days remaining in the budget period; the “zones”is the number of lowest priority of zones; and the “Flow Rate” is thewater flow rate of the zone for which the adjustment is beingdetermined. In those instances where the zone runtime adjustments aregreater than a scheduled or predicted runtime for the given zone, thenruntimes for additional zones could further be reduced by the volume ofwater incapable of being compensated for in the previously selected zoneor zones (e.g., reductions in runtime for one or more of the next lowestpriority zones).

As a specific example, if the water budget for the given budget periodis set at 10,000 gallons (gal.) and the predicted water usage over thebudget is predicted to be 10,250 gal., then the predicted excess waterusage is equal to 250 gal. If there are ten (10) remaining identifiedirrigation days during the budget period, and if the distribution ofreductions in irrigation is distributed equally over those 10 days, thenthe distributed reduction for each irrigation day is 25 gal. (i.e., 250gal./10 days). If there are two zones that are identified as lowestpriority zones and each has the same flow rate of 5 gal./min., then thezone runtime adjustment can be calculated by:

$\text{Zone~~Runtime~~Adjustment} = {\frac{25\mspace{14mu} {{gal}.\text{/}}2\mspace{14mu} {zones}}{5\mspace{14mu} {{gal}.\text{/}}{\min.}} = {2.5\mspace{14mu} {\min.\mspace{11mu} {per}}\mspace{14mu} {{zone}.}}}$

Table 1 shows an example of the adjustments to the irrigation schedulefor a given zone of a property being irrigated in accordance with the2.5 minute runtime adjustments in the above example:

Irrig. Day 7/17 7/18 7/20 7/21 7/22 7/25 7/26 7/27 7/30 7/31 Predicted   5 min.    5 min.    6 min.    7 min.    7 min.    7 min.    5 min.   4 min.    7 min.    7 min. Runtime Adjustment −2.5 min. −2.5 min.−2.5 min. −2.5 min. −2.5 min. −2.5 min. −2.5 min. −2.5 min. −2.5 min.−2.5 min. Adjusted  2.5 min.  2.5 min.  3.5 min.  4.5 min.  4.5 min. 4.5 min.  2.5 min.  1.5 min.  4.5 min.  4.5 min. Runtime

As another example, if the distribution of reductions in irrigation isweighted such that 30% of the total reductions are distributed over afirst 5 days of a remaining 10 identified irrigation days, and 70% ofthe total reductions are distributed over the second 5 days, with apredicted excess water usage of 250 gal. and two designated lowestpriority zones each having flow rates of 5 gal./min, then the zoneruntime adjustments for the two sets of days (the first 5 days, and thesecond 5 days) can be calculated, according to some embodiments, asfollows:

${\text{Zone~~Runtime~~Adjustment}_{1{st}\mspace{14mu} 5{days}} = {\frac{\left( {\left( {\left( {250\mspace{14mu} {{gal}.}*0.3} \right)\text{/}5{days}} \right)\text{/}2{zones}} \right)}{5\mspace{14mu} {{gal}.\text{/}}{\min.}} = {1.5\mspace{14mu} {minutes}}}};{and}$$\text{Zone~~Runtime~~Adjustment}_{2{nd}\mspace{14mu} 5\; {days}} = {\frac{\left( {\left( {\left( {250\mspace{14mu} {{gal}.}*0.7} \right)\text{/}5{days}} \right)\text{/}2{zones}} \right)}{5\mspace{14mu} {{gal}.\text{/}}{{m{in}}.}} = {3.5\mspace{14mu} {{minutes}.}}}$

Table 2 shows an example of the adjustments to the irrigation schedulefor a given zone of a property being irrigated in accordance with theadjustments in the above example:

Irrig. Day 7/17 7/18 7/20 7/21 7/22 7/25 7/26 7/27 7/30 7/31 Predicted   5 min.    5 min.    6 min.    7 min.    7 min.    7 min.    5 min.   4 min.    7 min.    7 min. Runtime Adjustment −1.5 min. −1.5 min.−1.5 min. −1.5 min. −1.5 min. −3.5 min. −3.5 min. −3.5 min. −3.5 min.−3.5 min. Adjusted  3.5 min.  3.5 min.  4.5 min.  5.5 min.  5.5 min. 3.5 min.  1.5 min.  0.5 min.  3.5 min.  3.5 min. Runtime

As indicated above, one or more parameters and/or factors can be takeninto account in determine the distribution of the reductions in runtimesand/or how the adjustments are applied to implement the distributedreductions.

FIG. 24 depicts a simplified flow diagram of one exemplary process 2410,according to some embodiments, of determining how to distribute thereductions in water usage to compensate for the predicted water usage inexcess of the water budget. In some implementations, the process 2410may be utilized to implement some or all of step 2314 of the process2310 of FIG. 23. In step 2420, one or more irrigation events areidentified during the remainder of the budget period. Thisidentification, as described above, can take into account predictedweather, predicted ET data, historic data, other such information orcombinations of such information.

In step 2422 it is determined whether there is a priority to applyreductions to a minimum number of events (e.g., is there a priority tosimply skip a full day to compensate for predicted excess water usageinstead of trying to distribute reductions over time). When there is nopriority to apply reductions to a minimum number of irrigation eventsthe process advances to step 2442. In those instances where there is apriority to minimize the number of events affected step 2424 is enteredwhere a predicted water usage for each of the predicted irrigationevents is identified. In step 2426, it is determined whether thepredicted water usage of more than one predicted irrigation events isrequired to compensate for the predicted excess water usage. When it isdetermined that more than a single irrigation events is needed theprocess advances to step 2434.

Alternatively, step 2430 is entered when a single irrigation event cancompensate for the predicted excess water usage, where first predictedirrigation water event in time that has a predicted irrigation waterusage for the single predicted irrigation event that is equal to orgreater than the predicted excess water usage is selected. In someembodiments, other criteria may be applied such that the next in timeirrigation water event capable of compensating for the predicted excessusage is not selected (e.g., a last identified irrigation day of thebudget period may be selected, or some selection based on a predictedirrigation need or other factors may be utilized). In step 2432predicted irrigation water usage is reduced by the predicted excesswater usage and the resulting reduced irrigation water usage for theselected irrigation event is used to determine irrigation runtimes forone or more zones or the selected irrigation event is identified as anon-irrigation event (e.g., when the difference between the predictedirrigation water usage and the predicted excess water usage is less thana threshold value). The process then terminates.

When it is determined in step 2426 that more than a single irrigationevent is needed the process advances to step 2434 to determine whetherthe number of predicted irrigation event needed to compensate for thepredicted excess water usage is greater than a threshold number ofevents, where the threshold number of events can vary depending on thenumber of events remaining in the budget period. The threshold number ofevents can be based on one or more factors such as, but not limited to,a percentage of events remaining in the budget period needed tocompensate for the predicted excess water usage, predicted number ofconsecutive irrigation events that would need to be changed tonon-irrigation events, and other such factors. When the number ofpredicted irrigation events needed to compensate for the predictedexcess water usage is greater than a threshold number of events theprocess 2410 skips to step 2442.

In step 2436, a plurality of predicted irrigation events are identifiedwhere the sum of the predicted water usage for the predicted irrigationevents is equal to or greater than the predicted excess water usage. Instep 2440, reductions are applied to the identified events (e.g., theselected events are designate as non-irrigation events and/or reduce oneor more zones to compensate for excess water usage). The process thenterminates.

In step 2442, it is determine whether precipitation or a thresholdamount of precipitation is predicted. When precipitation is predictedstep 2444 is entered where the distribution of the reductions inirrigation water usage applied during the irrigation event is weightedsuch that largest reductions are implemented when or near the time theprecipitation is predicted. For example, the process 2410 could identifya percentage of the number of predicted irrigation events before thepredicted precipitation and the percentage of the number of predictedirrigation events after predicted precipitation; define a firstreduction distribution for predicted events before the predictedprecipitation and a second reduction distribution for predicted eventsafter the predicted precipitation; then weight the distribution for theperiod before predicted precipitation with increasing reductions nearthe time of the predicted precipitation and weight the distribution forthe period after predicted precipitation with increasing reductions nearthe time of the predicted precipitation. The weighting can depend on oneor more factors, including the amount of expected perception, theexpected duration of the precipitation and other such factors.

In step 2446, it is determined whether the distribution should take intoaccount peak irrigation water needs. When peak irrigation water needsare not taken into account the process advances to step 2452 todetermine whether other weighting should be applied. Alternatively, whenpeak irrigation needs are to be take into account, step 2448 is enteredwhere peak irrigation water needs over the identified one or moreirrigation events is predicted. This peak irrigation water need can bedetermined, for example, based on predicted and/or historic ET data,weather data, and the like to calculate desired irrigation runtimes whenassuming no restrictions on water usage, where the peak irrigationevents can be identified as a function of the predicted irrigationruntimes. In step 2450, the distributions of reductions in water usageare weighted such that smallest reductions occur proximate to and/orduring those predicted peak irrigation water needs.

In step 2452, it is determined whether one or more other weightings aredefined or should be applied relative to other parameters (e.g., weightdistribution of reductions in water usage such that larger reductionsoccur toward an end of budget period). When further weighting is to beapplied step 2454 is entered to apply the defined and/or determinedadditional weighting. In those instances where further weighting is notto be applied, or after further weighting is applied, the processadvances to step 2456 to distribute reductions in water usage equallyacross predicted irrigation days or in accordance with the appliedweightings.

Similar processes can be implemented when the predicted water usage isanticipated to be less than the water budget after adjustments werepreviously implemented to reduce irrigation based on a previousprediction that water usage was predicted to exceed the water budget.This allows for increasing in irrigation should water usage be less thanpredicted.

FIG. 25 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an exemplary process 2510,according to some embodiments, of adjusting irrigation in response todetermining that predicted water usage is not expected to exceed thewater budget during the corresponding budget period. In some instances,the process 2510 may be utilized to implement part of step 2250 of theprocess 2210 of FIG. 22. In step 2512, an amount of predicted waterunder usage is determined as a function of the water budget and thepredicted water usage. In some instances this predicted water underusage is determined with a margin of error in attempts to limit lateradjustments due to excess water usage. For example, the predicted waterunder usage may be calculated by subtracting the predicted water usagefrom the water budget and subtracting from the results a threshold ormargin amount (e.g., predicted water under usage=water budget—predictedwater usage—margin).

In step 2514, an increased water usage distribution is identified thatcan be applied to increase irrigation and distribute the predicted underused water over the identified one or more predicted irrigation events.There are numerous ways in which the predicted under used water can bedistributed and one or more factors can be taken into account inselecting how the distribution is to be implemented. Again, in someembodiments, the under used water can be divided by the number ofremaining identified irrigation events to calculate an amount of waterthat is to be additionally delivered during each identified irrigationevent. In other embodiments, the distribution may be weighted based onweather conditions, expected or predicted weather, historic information,the amount of time remaining in the budget period, the types of plantlife being irrigated, zone priorities, and other such factors andcombinations of factors. As one example, the increased water usagedistribution may be weighted such that the increases are greater towardthe end of the budget period with historic knowledge that a subsequentbudget period tends to be hot and thus may want to end the currentbudget period with higher levels of irrigation if possible.

In step 2516, adjustments for predicted irrigation runtimes for one ormore irrigation zones are determined for one or more predictedirrigation events during the remainder of the current budget periodbased on the identified water under usage distribution to increaseirrigations. Again, how the exact adjustments are implemented can bebased on numerous factors as described above and further below. In someinstances, the zones may be prioritized. For example, there may be oneor more zones designated as higher or highest priority, where increasesin runtime are initially directed to these higher priority zones. Incalculating increases in runtime based on an identified under used waterover the budget period, in one example, the distribution can be equallydistributed over the identified number of irrigation events remaining inthe budget period, with the runtimes for the one or more highestpriority zones being increased in accordance with the increased waterusage distribution. For example, the highest priority zones can beidentified, the distributed increases for the given irrigation event canbe divided by the number of highest priority zones to determine anincreased runtime applied to the highest priority zones. Similarly,weighting can be applied in determining adjustments in distribution ofthe water under usage.

Some embodiments further take advantage of the water budget to identifywater usage that falls below the water budget. This under used watercan, in some instances, be rolled over into subsequent budget periods.In other implementations, the under used water relative to the budgetmay result in a credit to a user or may be utilized by the user as acommodity that the user can trade, share, sell or otherwise capitalizedupon. For example, if a user had a 10,000 gallon water budget availableover a one month budget period and the water use at the property wasonly 8,000 gallons over the budget period, the property owner couldpotentially roll the additional 2,000 under used gallons to a subsequentbudget period (e.g., the next month). As another example, the additional2,000 under used gallons may result in discounts or credits on theproperty owner's water bill, or may be purchased back by the watersupplier. In yet other examples, the property owner may give, selland/or trade the additional 2,000 unused gallons, such as to a neighbor,a business entity or other party. For example, the property owner mayobtain water credits for each under used volume of water and these watercredits can be given away, sold or otherwise traded to one or more thirdparties. As such, property owners may have incentives to reduce waterusage, and/or may recuperate some or all of their investments to reducewater usage, such as purchasing artificial grass, adding or upgrading anirrigation system, changing water deliver devices 134, investing inequipment to capture excess precipitation and reuse that capturedprecipitation, investing in equipment to reuse water, incorporating lowflow products into the property and/or other investments.

Similarly, users may be able to purchase, be granted, trade for and/orotherwise acquire under used water or water credits. The acquired underused and/or credits, in some instances, can be used to increase a waterbudget at the user's property. For example, a property may have a 10,000gallon water budget over a one month budget period. If the user acquires2,000 gallons worth of water credits, the water budget for the givenbudget period can be increased to 12,000

FIG. 26A depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 2610 accordingto some embodiments to capitalize on under used water, reduced waterusage below the water budget and/or control costs relative to waterusage. In step 2612, it is identified that the budget period of time hasexpired. In step 2614, a water budget is identified for the expiredbudget period. In step 2616, a measured water usage of water used at theproperty is received. In step 2620, the water usage over the budgetperiod is determined as a function of the received measured water usage.As described above, this may depend on one or more factors and can takeinto account irrigation and/or non-irrigation water usage. In someinstances, the water usage is accumulated over the budget period and thereceived measured water usage is utilized to determine an accumulatedwater usage over the budget period by, for example, subtracting aninitial measured usage taken at the beginning of the budget period fromthe measured usage.

In step 2622, it is determined whether the water usage during the budgetperiod is less than the water budget. In those instances where the waterusage is equal to or greater than the water budget the process 2610terminates. Alternatively, when water usage is less than the waterbudget step 2624 is entered to determine an amount of unused water as afunction of the water budget and the water usage. In some instances theunused water is determined by subtracting the water usage from the waterbudget. In other instances a buffer factor may further be applied. Thisbuffer factor may compensate for inaccuracies or the like.

In step 2626, the determined unused water is utilized to obtain amonetary benefit proportional to the determined unused water. Themonetary benefit, as described above, may result in a reduction in awater bill, some or all of the unused water may be sold to a thirdparty, the unused water may be rolled over to a subsequent budget periodallowing a property to actually utilize water in excess of a waterbudget for that subsequent budget period without being subject topenalties for exceeding the budget and/or other such monetary benefits.

FIG. 26B depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 2650 accordingto some embodiments to increase a water budget. In step 2652 it isidentified that a user has requested to increase a water budget. In step2654 information about acquiring water credits is obtained. Thisinformation can be locally stored, can be acquired from a secondarydevice (e.g., the display device 324), can be acquired from a remotesource 630 via a communication link and/or a distributed network, orother such source or combinations of sources. In some instances, limitsrelative to water credits may apply, for example, based on a user, aproperty, a geographic location of the property and/or other suchfactors. Further, limits might additionally or alternatively include thetypes of water credits, the amounts of water credits, the source fromwhich water credits can be acquired and other such limits orcombinations of such limits. Further, the information may include one ormore of: amounts of water credits that are available; pricing; source ofthe water credits; whether trades are available; options; limits on use;and other such information.

In step 2656 it is determined whether the potential acquisition isterminated. This can be based on a user's instruction to terminate(e.g., detecting a selection of a “cancel” option), based on an elapseof a time period to receive a user's selection, or other such event.When the acquisition is terminated the process 2650 is terminated.Alternatively, step 2660 is entered where an indication of an amount ofor water credits is received. In some instances, this can be detectedbased on a user's selection of an option provided to the user, an entryby a user (e.g., a user typing in an amount of additional waterdesired), or other such indication. In step 2662 the additional waterusage or water credits are acquired. This may include the user enteringin payment (e.g., through a credit card, on-line payment service orother such payment), receiving an authentication (e.g., receiving fromthe user an account number (such as a user's water authority accountnumber), a password to a user's account (such as with the waterauthority); an irrigation controller identification; or other suchauthentication or combinations of such authentications), receiving oneor more bids entered by the user when the source for the water creditsis an auction, and/or other such actions.

In some embodiments, some or all of the steps of the processes 2610and/or 2650 are performed at the irrigation controller 130. In otherembodiments, some or all of the steps of the processes 2610 and/or 2650are performed by other devices or combinations of devices. For example,in some implementations a water authority may perform some or all of thesteps of the processes 2610 and/or 2650. As another example, theseparate display device 122 b or a user's computer or other such devicecan perform some of the steps of the processes 2610 and/or 2650.

The irrigation controller 130, in some embodiments, not only monitorsirrigation water usage but also can monitor and/or provide informationabout irrigation water usage and/or non-irrigation water usage. Bytracking water usage the irrigation controller 130 can provide the userwith beneficial information that not only may help with regard toirrigation but may further provide beneficial information aboutnon-irrigation water usage. An irrigation controller 130 can distinguishbetween irrigation water usage and non-irrigation water usage, such asby utilizing the irrigation timing. For example, water use occurringwhile irrigation is not active can be designated as non-irrigation waterusage. In other instances where one or more meters are dedicated tomonitor irrigation water usage the irrigation controller can identifynon-irrigation water usage by subtracting the measured irrigation waterusage as provided by the dedicated irrigation meters.

Further in some embodiments, an irrigation controller may be providedwith and/or can store water flow profiles relative to common waterusage, such as profiles corresponding to a toilet flushing, a washingmachine, a dishwasher, a shower, a bathtub, facet, irrigation and/orother water usage and/or delivery devices. Water flow profiles cangenerally be considered as a set of data defining water flow and/orpressure characteristics at one or more locations in a water deliverysystem over time. In some implementations, a water flow profile isdefined graphically. Additionally or alternatively, the irrigationcontroller 130 may generate water flow profiles relative to water usageat the property, which can include irrigation and in some instancesnon-irrigation water usage, and utilize these generated water flowprofiles in evaluating water usage. The water flow profiles can begenerated based on information received from the one or more flowmeters, water pressure, water use for a give event or events, and othersuch factors or combinations of such factors. Similarly, profiles ofcombinations of water flows and/or variations of water flow profiles(e.g., based on changes in water pressure, other water usage, and thelike) can be stored and/or generated at the irrigation controller. Byreceiving or taking flow measurements, the measured flows can becompared to and/or and match against stored profiles. The irrigationcontroller can utilize these profiles to identify non-irrigation waterusage and estimate, calculate and/or identify an amount ofnon-irrigation water use relative to a profile of the detected waterflow. Similarly, the irrigation controller may utilize the water flowprofiles to identify irrigation water usage and/or estimate, calculateand/or identify an amount of irrigation water used relative to one ormore water flow profiles and/or variations of profiles (e.g., based onchanges in water pressure). Further, in instances where it appears wateris substantially always flowing, then the irrigation controller 130 canidentify that a leak is present and can notify the user or propertyowner. Similarly, water flow profiles may be used to aid in identifyingthe device leaking, a type of leak and/or provide tips on correcting theleak or directing a user to a source to obtain relevant information tocorrect the leak. For example, a water profile for a given irrigationzone may be used to identify a leak or broken pipe, a leaking or brokenwater delivery device 134 or other such leak or breaks.

As a result, the irrigation controller 130 can be configured to providea user or property owner with information about non-irrigation waterusage, irrigation water usage, amounts of irrigation water usage,amounts of non-irrigation water usage, habits relative to water usageand other relevant information. Similarly, as described above, theirrigation controller 130 can provide information to the user regardingirrigation scheduling, water budget, water usage, predicted water usage,adjustments to irrigation, costs associated with water usage and othersuch information. This information can be displayed through the display882 of the irrigation controller 130 or communicated to one or moredevices to be viewed and/or accessed by the user. For example, theirrigation controller 130 can communicate information to the separatedisplay device 324 to be accessed and/or viewed by a user.

FIG. 27 depicts a simplified diagram of an exemplary user interface 832of an irrigation controller 130 according to some embodiments. The userinterface 832 includes user inputs 880 and a display 882. The inputs 880can include, for example, a rotary dial 2712, a plurality offunctionality labels 2714 marking a plurality of selectable positions ofthe rotary dial 2712, multi-function adjustment button group 2716 (whichcan contain, for example, up, down, left and right multi-functionbuttons 2717-2720 and a select button 2721), and other relevant buttonsthat initiate different functions, such as a manual start button 2732,language button 2734, display on/off 2736. Some buttons may include aLED indicator 2740 indicating activation of the corresponding button.

The display 882 can display irrigation information, water usageinformation, irrigation scheduling, weather data, historic data andother relevant information. Additionally in some instances, the display882 may be able to display graphics and other information, such as Webpages and other information. As an example, the display 882 may displaywater budget information such as a water budget information table orlisting 2750. In this example, the budget information is displayed in atable, however, in other instances the information may be displayed as alist or in columns. Similarly, the table and/or listing may be scrolledin instances where the entire table, list or information is notdisplayed (e.g., scrolled up, down, left, right using the multifunctionbuttons 2716). The budget information table 2750 can be displayed toprovide a variety of information about the water budget and currentstatistics and parameters. For example, the budget table 2750 canidentify a current budget period 2752 and/or duration of the currentbudget; a current time 2754 and/or date 2756; a water budget 2760; acurrent water usage 2762 during the current budget period; an estimatedor predicted water usage over the budget period 2764; predicted waterusage in excess of the water budget 2766 if any; a cost per unit 2770for water usage (e.g., cost per gallon); a cost for the water usedduring the budget period 2772; penalties 2774 that might be incurredshould the water use exceed the water budget; total estimated cost toexceed the water budget 2776; and other such information. As describedabove, the water budget information is depicted in a table form in theexample of FIG. 27; however, the information can be provided in avariety of different ways, such as a simply listing through which theuser can scroll. Similarly, in some instances, the user can designatethe font size, the amount of information that is displayed, whetherdisplayed in table, listing or other format, and/or other such control.In yet other embodiments, the user can specify what information isdisplayed in a given table or cooperatively displayed. In some instancesthe display 882 may additionally display user selectable options 2780that can be selected, for example, using the multi-function adjustmentbuttons 2717-2721. In some instances the multi-function adjustmentbuttons 2717-2721 can cause transitions on the display, such as moving acursor or highlighting feature, changing display screens, selectingdisplayed options 2780 and the like.

The user interface 832 further allows the user to define parameters, setirrigation schedules, set priorities, specify budgets when relevant(e.g., by volume of water, dollar amount, runtimes, event budgets, dailybudgets, zone budgets, and the like), define irrigation conditions andother such information. Different displayed buttons 880, the rotary dial2712 and/or the multifunction buttons 2716 allow a user to access menus,entry fields and/or displayed interfaces that can be provided to allowthe user to enter information and/or adjust information and/orparameters. As examples, some of the parameters and/or information thatmay be specified by a user may include, but is not limited to, one ormore water budgets; irrigation scheduling, priorities whether area, zoneor other such priority (e.g., top priority, middle priority, lowpriority; specifying a level (such as define each zone with a levelbetween 1-10); prioritizing each zone highest priority to lowestpriority; or other such priorities); specifying actions, which may bebased on a relative priority; specifying adjustments to be implementedin the event adjustments are needed; one or more cost budgets (which maybe for an entire water use during the budget period; a cost per zone asa priority, and/or other such costs); types of irrigation and/or typesof water delivery devices, plant material type being irrigated (e.g.,hearty zone, medium hearty zone, non-hearty zone; vegetables, garden,grass, flowers, trees, shrubs, and the like; or other such types); flowrates and/or anticipated flow rates; water pipe sizes; water pressure;slopes; terrain; soil types; precipitation rates; override instructions;tiers; requests for notifications; and other such parameters andinformation.

As indicated above, the irrigation controller 130 may be incommunication with the display device 324, which in some instances islocated separate from the irrigation controller. For example, thedisplay device 324 may be located within a house to receive informationfrom the irrigation controller that can be displayed to a user.

FIG. 28 depicts a simplified diagram of a representative display device324 according to some embodiments. The embodiment of the display device324 depicted in FIG. 28 shows a casing or housing 2812, and a userinterface 926 that includes a display 954 and user inputs 952. Asdescribed above, the display 954 can be an LCD display, plasma display,touch screen or other such display. The display device 324 can receiveand display information from the meter 122, a separate meter 422, theirrigation controller 130, a remote source accessed over a network 624(e.g., intranet, power line communication network, Internet, etc.), userentered or other such source or sources. Further, in some instances, thedisplay device 324 can have the capabilities to perform evaluations ofthe information received and present the information and/or results fromthe evaluation through at least the display 954.

In some instances, the display device 324 can include user inputs 952,which in the embodiment shown in FIG. 28 include buttons 2814 and/oroptions 2816 displayed on the display 954 that is a touch screen.Substantially any number of buttons 2814 and/or options 2816 can beprovided allowing the user to obtain different types of information,conform the display device 324 and/or communicate from the displaydevice. As representative examples, the options 2816 may include: a menuoption that, for example, allows access to a top or main menu providingthe user with additional options about sources of information, types ofinformation, options in controlling the display device 324 and othersuch options; a graph or graphics option can allow a user to obtaingraphical data, such as for the water usage; a budget information optionproviding the user with budget information such as a total budget, acurrent water usage, costs associated with water usage and/or exceedingthe budget and other such budget information; and a time and date optionthat allows the user to set and/or adjust a current date and/or time,access a calendar, and other relevant information. As depicted in FIG.28, in some instances, the display device 324 can receiving informationfrom the irrigation controller 130 identifying that the water budget hasbeen exceeded. In response to receiving this information the displaydevice 324 can generate a notification 2820 to the user that the waterbudget has been exceeded. The display device 324 may, in some instances,additionally produce an audible notification or alarm. As describedabove, the irrigation controller 130 can display similar informationand/or may produce a similar audible notification.

FIG. 29 depicts a simplified diagram of the display screen 954,according to some embodiments, displaying the user options 2816 and anotification 2912 that the water budget is predicted to be exceeded,including a date when it is predicted the water budget is going to beexceeded. In some instances, the display device 324 can additionallydisplay the budget period 2914, and a current date 2916, day within thebudget period or days (or other time frame) remaining in the budgetperiod.

FIG. 30 depicts the display screen 954, according to some embodiments,displaying additional water usage and budget information. In someinstances a budget information table or listing 3012 can be displayedproviding a variety of information about the water budget and currentstatistics and parameters. For example, the budget table 3012 canidentify a current budget period 3020 and/or duration of the currentbudget; a current time 3022 and/or date 3024; a water budget 3026; acurrent water usage 3030 during the current budget period; an estimatedor predicted water usage over the budget period 3032; predicted waterusage in excess of the water budget 3034 if any; a cost per unit 3036for water usage (e.g., cost per gallon); a cost for the water usedduring the budget period 3040; penalties 3042 that might be incurredshould the water use exceed the water budget; total estimated cost toexceed the water budget 3044; and other such information. Thisinformation is depicted in a table form in FIG. 30; however, theinformation can be provided in a variety of different ways, such as alisting through which the user can scroll. Similarly, in some instances,the user can designate the font size and/or amount of information thatis displayed. In yet other embodiments, the user can specify whatinformation is displayed in a give table 3012 or cooperativelydisplayed.

The display device 324 can further display one or more user options2816, such as those described above. Other options that might bedisplayed with the budget information table 3012 might include a waterauthority option that allows a user to get information from the waterauthority (e.g., the current budget, bill rates, etc.), communicate withthe water authority and the like. There may also be an irrigation optionthat allows a user to get information from the irrigation controller130, such as irrigation schedule, irrigation adjustments, runtimes,water usage, and other such information; communicate with the irrigationcontroller 130, such as adjust irrigation scheduling, overrideadjustments, halt irrigation on one or more zones and other suchcommunications; communicate with a remote source associated with theirrigation controller, for example, to obtain updates, suggestions onoptimizing irrigation and other such information; and obtain otherinformation about the irrigation controller 130, the valves 132, theirrigation delivery devices 134 or other such information.

FIG. 31 depicts a simplified diagram of the display screen 954,according to some embodiments, displaying an example of a budgetinformation table 3012. In this example, the budget table displays anotification 3112 that the water budget has been exceeded during thespecified budget period, which in this example identifies a start date3114 and end date 3116 of the budget period. The budget tableadditionally identifies an estimate water usage in excess of the budget3120, a penalty 3122 for exceeding the budget, which could be a flatfee, an increased cost per unit 3036 of water or other such fee, theestimated cost to exceed the budget 3124; and a total estimated cost3126.

FIG. 32 depicts a simplified diagram of the display screen 954,according to some embodiments, displaying an example of a budgetinformation table 3210. In this example, the budget information tabledisplays a notification 3212 that the current water usage has exceeded afirst water budget tier and the current water budget applies to a secondtier, which in some instances is associated with higher rates or costper unit 3236 (e.g., an increase in cost per unit of water, such as ajump from $0.007 per gallon to a cost of $0.014 per gallon), and/oradditional penalties 3242.

FIG. 33 depicts a simplified diagram of the display screen 954,according to some embodiments, displaying an example of a graphicalrepresentation 3312 of water usage 3314 during the budget period and/orpredicted water usage 3316 over the remainder of the budget period. Inthe representative example shown in FIG. 33 the graphical representationshows water usage 3330 on a vertical axis and events, days or the like3332 during the budget period along the horizontal axis. The budget isgraphically identified by the dashed line 3334 (e.g., at 10,000 gal.).This example also identifies a current day or event 3340 (e.g., Today)on the event or day axis 3332 along the budget period, as well as a dayor event 3342 when it is predicted that the continued water usage isexpected to exceed the budget. Again, one or more user options 2816 maybe provided.

FIG. 34 depicts a simplified representation of a user interface 832 ofthe irrigation controller 130, according to some embodiments. Asintroduced above, the irrigation controller 130 in some embodiments candisplay information about the water usage. In this exemplaryrepresentation the display 882 of the irrigation controller 130 isdisplaying the graphical representation 3312 of water usage displayed inFIG. 33, again showing water usage 3314 during the budget period and thepredicted water usage 3316.

FIG. 35 depicts a simplified diagram of the display screen 954,according to some embodiments, displaying an example of a waterauthority interface 3512. This water authority interface is a simplifiedexample of an interface activated in some instances upon selecting thewater authority option from the user options 2816. In this example,additional options are presented to the user to obtain additionalinformation and communicate with the water authority. For example, theadditional user options might include a budget option 3520 to retrieveand/or verify a water budget of a budget information table 3012. Arestrictions option 3522 can be included that allows a user to retrieveand/or view potential other restrictions that the water authority hasissued and might apply to the user and/or the property being irrigated.A fee rate option 3524 may be available that provides informationrelative to the cost of water usage, potential fees associated withexceeding a budget, additional costs, potential reduction in costs(e.g., for implementing water saving techniques) and other suchinformation. A geographic area option 3526 can be included that allowsthe user to identify budgets and/or restrictions based on geographicareas, including the area where the property is located. An accountoption 3530 can be included in some embodiments that allows a user toget information about his/her account, such as past bills, current billspending, current rates, information about reduction in costs (e.g., forimplementing water saving techniques) and other such information. Aconservation tip option 3532 might be included that provides the userwith information supplied by the water authority or other source forways to reduce water usage. Other options can be included that allowsthe user to obtain information and/or communicate with the waterauthority.

FIG. 36 depicts a simplified diagram of the display screen 954,according to some embodiments, displaying an example of an irrigationinterface 3612. As introduced above, a user option 2816 might include anirrigation option. Upon activation of this option the user may beprovided with the irrigation interface 3612 that provides informationabout irrigation, information about an irrigation schedule, optionsassociated with irrigation, initiating communication with an irrigationcontroller 130 and/or other such options. In some instances, theirrigation interface 3612 might include a plurality of options thatallows the user to obtain information and/or interact with theirrigation controller. For example, the irrigation interface can includea schedule option 3620 that may allow the user to retrieve and view acurrent irrigation schedule, a previous irrigation schedule (e.g., aschedule before being changed by the irrigation controller in attemptsto maintain the water budget) or other such schedule information. Insome instances, the schedule option 3620 may allow the user to alter theirrigation schedule and/or override a schedule. A restrictions option3622 may provide the user with information about irrigationrestrictions, such as those specified by the irrigation controller, auser, a water authority or other such restrictions. An ET and/or weatheroption 3624 may be provided to supply the user with access to ET dataand/or weather data. A zones option 3626 may be provided that allows theuser to identify a zone as known by the irrigation controller andpotential implement actions relative to one or more of the zones. Awater usage option 3630 may provide the user with information aboutcurrent, past and/or predicted water usage. A manual irrigation controloption 3632 may allow the user to take manual action at the irrigationcontrol, for example, to manually activate one or more zones, to haltactive or future irrigation for one or more zones and/or other suchactions. Other options may similarly be provided.

The display device 324 provides a user or property owner withinformation about water use. Further, the display device can receiveinformation from the irrigation controller 130 relative to water usage,irrigation scheduling and other information and make this informationavailable to the user. In some embodiments, the display device mayfurther include the functionality to make some calculations and/orpredictions relative to water usage based on information provided by theirrigation controller 130 and provide notification relative to theresults from the calculations and/or predictions.

FIG. 37 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 3710 implementedby the display device in displaying information to a user according tosome embodiments. In step 3712 the display device 324 receives, directlyfrom an irrigation controller controlling irrigation at a property wherewater use is being determined, a predicted water usage for the givenproperty over a current fixed budget period. In step 3714, the displaydevice identifies a water budget specific to the property and dictatinga fixed volume of water usable at the property during the fixed budgetperiod of time. In step 3716, it is determined whether the water budgetis predicted to be exceeded during the budget period. In those instanceswhere the water budget is not predicted to be exceeded the processterminates or advances to optional step 3718 where the cost for thepredicted water usage within the budget is displayed. This notificationmay further identify that the budget is not exceeded, may identify apredicted amount of water credits that may be obtained by the propertyowner should water usage continue as predicted, a potential revenue thatmay be obtained from such water credits (e.g., current price per watercredit) and/or other such information. Alternatively, step 3720 isentered, when it has been determined that the predicted water usage ispredicted to exceed the water budget, and the display device 324displays a notification that the water usage is predicted to exceed thewater budget during the budget period.

As described above, the irrigation controller 130 can, in someembodiments, provide costs and/or cost predictions relative to the waterusage. Similarly, in some implementations the display device 324 mayoptionally further display costs associated with water usage. In step3722, a cost per unit volume of water usage is identified. This cost perunit volume can be received from the water authority, provided by theirrigation controller, provided by the user or other such source. Instep 3724, a cost to utilize the predicted water usage is calculated asa function of the cost per unit volume of water and the predicted waterusage, for example, by multiplying the cost per unit volume of water bythe predicted water usage.

In step 3726, it is determined whether a penalty is to be associatedwith exceeding the water budget. In some instances, the water authorityor other entity (e.g., an association) may assess a penalty as a resultof exceeding the water budget. In those instances where a penalty is notassessed, the process skips to step 3732. When a penalty is to beapplied step 3730 is entered where a penalty is identified and/orcalculated. For example, the penalty may be a flat charge for exceedingthe budget. In other instances the penalty may be based on an amount bywhich the water budget is exceeded.

In step 3732, it is determined whether there are multiple tiers of waterbudgets to be applied. In those instances where there are not multipletiers the process advances to step 3742. When it is determined that thewater budget is one tier of a plurality of budget tiers the processcontinues step 3734 to identify a second cost per unit volume of waterusage in excess of the water budget and less than a subsequent andhigher tier water budget. In step 3736 a cost to utilize the predictedwater usage in excess of the tier being evaluated and less than (orequal to) the subsequently higher tier is calculated as a function ofthe second cost per unit volume and the excess water usage greater thanthe tier budget being evaluated and less than or equal to thesubsequently higher tier budget (e.g., multiplying the second cost perunit volume of water by the predicted water usage in excess of the tierwater budget being evaluated). In step 3740, it is determined whetherthe predicted water usage is predicted to excess the subsequently highertier water budget. In those instances where the predicted water usage isanticipated to exceed the subsequently higher tier budget the processreturns to step 3726 to determine whether there is a penalty to beapplied resulting from exceeding the subsequently higher budget. Whenthe water usage is not predicted to exceed the subsequently higher tierwater budget, the process continues to step 3746 to calculate the totalpredicted cost to exceed the one or more budgets.

In step 3742, it is determined whether there is a second cost per unitvolume to be applied to water usage in excess of the water budget. Inthose instances where there is not a second cost per unit volume theprocess 3710 advances to step 3746 to calculate the total predicted costto exceed the one or more budgets. When a second cost is to be appliedstep 3744 is entered when the second cost per unit volume is identifiedand the cost for water usage in excess of the water budget is calculatedas a function of the water usage in excess of the water budget and thesecond cost per unit volume (e.g., multiplying the second cost per unitvolume by the predicted water usage in excess of the water budget).

In step 3746, the predicted cost to exceed the water budget iscalculated. This predicted cost can depend on the results of priorsteps, such as whether there is a penalty, whether there are multipletiers, whether there is a second cost per unit volume and the like. Forexample, the predicted cost can be the sum of the calculated cost toutilize the predicted water usage and the penalty when a penalty isapplied, and no secondary cost per unit volume is to apply. Similarly,the cost can be calculated by summing the excess cost to utilize thepredicted water usage (e.g., secondary cost per unit volume) with thesum of the calculated cost to utilize the predicted water usage and anypenalty that may apply. In other instances the cost to utilize thepredicted water usage may be calculated by multiplying the cost per unitvolume of water by the predicted water usage, adding any penalties andadding the results of multiplying the second cost per unit volume ofwater by the predicted water usage in excess of the water budget (aswell as third cost per unit volume, fourth cost per unit volume etc.).

In step 3750, the display device displays a notification about the waterusage. This notification can include the predicted cost to utilize, atthe property and over the budget period, the predicted water usage andexceeding the water budget, when it is determined that the predictedwater usage is predicted to exceed the water budget. Some embodimentsmay include optional step 3752 that displays an adjusted irrigationschedule when received from the local irrigation controller thatcontrols irrigation relative to the property where the water use isbeing determined. The adjusted irrigation schedule can identifyadjustments that can be implemented to reduce irrigation water usagesuch that the predicted water usage when the adjusted irrigationschedule is implemented is not predicted to exceed the water budget.Additionally, in some embodiments, the displayed adjusted irrigationschedule can show what changes were made and/or a different betweenirrigation schedules.

Still further in some embodiments, the notification can further providean override option that would instruct that the adjusted irrigation notbe implemented and that instead the predicted water use in excess of thewater budget should be implemented or other schedule adjustments may bedefined. As such, the process 3710 may include optional step 3754 todetermine whether an override has been received (e.g., based on adetection of a selection of the override option displayed). In thoseinstances where an override is received step 3756 is entered where thedisplay device communicates a notification to the irrigation controllerregarding the override.

In step 3760 it is determined whether notification is received from theirrigation controller, that a leak is detected. In those instances wherea leak has been detected step 3762 is entered where the display devicefurther displays a notification that the leak is detected. In someimplementations the displayed notification of the leak may additionallyprovide a predicted cost resulting due to the leak and/or a predictedwater usage resulting from the leak. For example, a flow rate of theleak can be received from the irrigation controller and the cost perunit volume of water usage can be utilized to calculate a predicted costof water usage resulting from the leak as a function of the flow rate ofthe leak and the cost per unit volume of water usage. Similarly, theflow rate of the leak can be used to calculate a predicted water usageover the budget period resulting from the leak as a function of the flowrate of the leak and a remainder of the budget period.

As described above, in some embodiments the irrigation controller 130can communicate with one or more other devices to provide water usageinformation, irrigation schedule information, irrigation adjustmentinformation and/or other such information. The other devices can be theseparate display device 324, a separate computer, a wireless device suchas a smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or other suchwireless device, and/or other such separate devices.

FIG. 38 depicts a simplified diagram of a smart phone 3810. The smartphone includes a display 3812 and a plurality of entry buttons oroptions 3814. In this example, the water usage information is beingdisplayed on the display 3812 and includes a notification 3820 that thewater budget has been exceeded, along with water budget information3822, current water usage 3824, cost information 3826 and other relevantinformation. Some embodiments further display additional options 3830that can be activated by the user, similar to options 2816, such as anoption to initiate and/or define adjustments to irrigation, haltingirrigation, overriding the irrigation controller in adjusting and/orhalting irrigation, menu option and/or other such options.

Some embodiments provide control and/or adjustments to irrigation tobetter utilize water delivered to plant life. Further, the control ofirrigation reduces water use and better optimizes when and/or an amountof water delivered to plant life. Furthermore, the present embodimentscan provide this control over irrigation in accordance with waterbudgets. This control can be implemented, in some embodiments, throughthe correlation of water usage to water runtimes. By correlating waterusage to runtimes accurate runtimes can be determined to deliver adesired amount of water. Additionally or alternatively, feedback can beemployed to correlate the water usage with ET data and/or sensor data tofurther control irrigation, and in some instances better enhance whenand how much water is delivered over the budget period.

FIG. 39 depicts a simplified flow diagram of an example process 3910 ofcontrolling irrigation through an association of water usage toirrigation timing according to some embodiments. The process 3910 can beutilized in cooperation with, as part of or in place of some or all ofone or more of the processes of FIGS. 1-26. In part, the process 3910provides a correlation between measured and/or calculated water use andone or more parameters used in determining whether irrigation should beimplemented, irrigation runtimes, adjustments that might be implementedto irrigation and/or irrigation runtimes, or combinations thereof. Insome embodiments the process 3910 is implemented by the irrigationcontroller 130, 622, 752, 782, or implemented by a separate device incommunication with the irrigation controller.

In step 3912 water usage measurements or other relevant information arereceived from one or more sources, such as the meter 122, a separatemeter 422, other such measurement devices or combinations of suchdevices. In step 3914, the measured water usage is correlated withirrigation runtimes. This correlation can include the correlation of oneor more parameters used by the irrigation controller 130 in determiningirrigation runtimes and/or whether adjustments to irrigation should beimplemented. As one example, the measured water usage can be correlatedwith an irrigation time to achieve a desired water delivery, where theirrigation time is a duration when active irrigation is implemented toachieve the desired water delivery. As another example, the correlationcan include correlating the measured water usage with ET datacorresponding to the measured water usage.

In some implementations, the process 3910 includes optional step 3916where sensor data is received. For example, the sensor data can be fromone or more sensors 326, such as one or more soil moisture sensors, rainsensors, temperature sensors, wind sensors, humidity sensors and othersuch relevant sensors. In step 3920, one or more irrigation times orruntimes are determined to achieve a desired water delivery, which insome instances can include determining a time over the active irrigationuntil a water level within the soil is obtained, and the determinedruntimes are correlated with sensor data. As another example, thedetermination of the irrigation time to achieve the desired waterdelivery can include identifying a soil moisture level prior toinitiating the active irrigation, where the difference in soil moisturelevels or ranges of soil moisture levels can be correlated withirrigation times.

In step 3922, predicted water usage is determined. This predicted waterusage can be based on predicted weather conditions, predicted ET data,historic weather data, historic ET data and/or other such information orcombinations of such information, and the correlation of water usage toET data and/or sensor data. In step 3924, it is determined whetherirrigation is to be adjusted based on the predicted water usage based,at least in part, on the correlations and the known water budget. Thisevaluation can be similar to those described above, where thecorrelation is used to determine an amount of predicted runtime andwater use irrigation is adjusted as a function of the correlatedmeasured water usage and the irrigation runtimes. For example, theadjusting the irrigation can include, when water measurement informationis correlated with ET data, adjusting the irrigation as a function ofpredicted ET and the correlation of water usage to the ET data.

FIG. 40 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 4010 ofcontrolling irrigation according to some embodiments. The process 4010can be used in cooperation with the process 3910 of FIG. 39 and/or withone or more of the process of FIGS. 12-16. In step 4012 water usagemeasurements are received and/or calculated. In step 4014, measuredwater usage is correlated with ET data that corresponds to the measuredwater usage. In step 4016, a predicted ET is determined. In someembodiments, the predicted ET can be predicted as a function of an ETvalue for a budget period. For example, the budget period can be amonth, a week, a billing cycle, or other relevant periods. As a further,example, the determination of the predicted ET, in some embodiments, caninclude determining predicted event or daily ET values by dividing theET value for the budget period by a number of events or days in thebudget period, and the correlation of the measured water usage with theET can include identifying a measured amount of water delivered for aprevious given period, determining an ET for the given period andcorrelating a unit of ET to a unit of measured water.

In step 4020, predicted water usage is determined as a function of thepredicted ET and the correlation between the measured water usage andthe ET data. In step 4022, it is determined whether adjustments toirrigation are to be implemented based on the water budget and as afunction of predicted ET and the correlation of the water usage to theET data. For example, the adjustment to the irrigation can includepredicting an amount of water use as a function of predicted event ordaily ET values (e.g., when predicted by dividing the ET value for thebudget by the number of events or days in the period).

As described above, some embodiments provide systems and/or methods ofautomatically adjusting the scheduling of an irrigation controller toadhere to a volumetric water budget. The determination of whether avolumetric budget is being adhered to and/or what adjustments might beincorporated can be implemented at an irrigation controller 130, acentral irrigation controller 752, a distributed irrigation controller782 and/or other devices or systems, including third party devicesand/or systems, in communication with an irrigation controller 130(e.g., a remote computer, a water authority 626, a remote server 630 orthe like).

FIG. 41 depicts a simplified flow diagram of a process 4110 according tosome embodiments to automatically implement irrigation as a function ofa volumetric water budget. This process 4110 may be performed by orincorporated as part of one or more of the devices, processes and/orsystems described herein and/or other devices, processes or systems notspecifically described herein. As such, in some embodiments adjustmentsto irrigation may be implemented without user interaction as a result ofwater usage relative to a volumetric water budget. In some cases, it isnoted that user interaction may be involved in defining one or more ofpriorities, scheduling, budgets, budget scheduling, rates, zones,irrigation cycles, irrigation days, ET levels, limits, restrictions,flow rates, water distribution rates, precipitation levels, and othersuch parameters and factors, but in some embodiments adjustments aredetermined and implemented without user interaction. Further, the waterbudget typically covers water usage over multiple irrigation cycles. Asunderstood in the art, an irrigation cycle may be series of wateringevents occurring sequentially in time or overlapped in time over one ormore irrigation stations during a current watering period (e.g., acurrent day).

In step 4112 information is received corresponding to volumetric waterusage at a site location having the irrigation controller. In someembodiments, the volumetric water usage corresponds to volumetric waterusage from a beginning of the budget period of time to a time within thebudget period of time. The water usage information, in some instances,may be information limited to water usage by an irrigation controller atthe site location. In other embodiments, the water usage information mayinclude information regarding non-irrigation water usage relative to thesite location. This information may be based on measured water usagetaken from one or more water meters at the site location, which may bereceived directly from the meter 122, from the irrigation controller 130at the site, or received via a distributed network of water meters(e.g., through an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) network). Insome instances, the water usage information may be, or may be based on,calculated or estimated usage information, such as measured flow ratesand irrigation runtimes, based on irrigation runtimes and predicted flowrates for water delivery devices 134, may be based on user inputtedinformation, and/or may be based on other such factors. In someembodiments, the information comprises or is related to volumetric wateruse. In some embodiments, the site location is the physical region orproperty location where the irrigation controller is located. In someembodiments, the term volumetric corresponds to water in terms of unitsof volume, e.g., gallons, liters, etc. In some embodiments, the termvolumetric further corresponds to water in terms of units of volume perunit of time.

In step 4114, the received water usage information is evaluated toautomatically determine whether volumetric water usage during the budgetperiod of time will not meet or is predicted that continued volumetricwater usage will not meet a volumetric water budget within a budgetperiod of time. The evaluation can implement one or more of theprocesses 1310, 1410, 1510, 1610, 1710, 1810, 1870, 1910, 2010, 2110,2210, 2610, 2650, 3910 and 4010 or other processes. Further, in someinstances, the evaluation of the water usage relative to the volumetricbudget period can include a determination of whether the volumetricwater budget can be increased and/or altered (e.g., jumping to anothertier, overriding a budget and the like). When it is determined thatvolumetric water usage is predicted to meet the volumetric water budget,the process returns to step 4112 to continue evaluating whetheradjustments can be implemented (e.g., increase runtimes or make otheradjustments since additional water budget may be available), or in someinstances may optionally advance (not shown) to step 4118 whereinstructions or a signal are issued to continue irrigating in accordancewith a current irrigation schedule (and then may return to step 4112).In other embodiments, additional evaluations may be performed todetermine whether water usage can be increased, for example when waterusage was previously reduced and/or a previous irrigation schedule waspreviously adjusted to reduce irrigation. In some instances, the processmay utilize or advance to one of processes 2510, 2610 and/or 2650.

In those instances where it is predicted that the volumetric waterbudget is not going to be met, the process advances to step 4116 toautomatically determine adjustments to irrigation scheduling in anattempt to have predicted volumetric water use adhere to the volumetricwater budget. As described above, these adjustments can take on one ormore of a variety of forms, which typically include something other thansimply shutting down further irrigation. For example, the adjustmentscan include determining a budget factor that results in an across theboard adjustment based on the budget factor (e.g., a percentagereduction); a budget factor for a specific zone or a plurality ofspecific zones; a time factor, which again may be an across the boardadjustment in runtime or a time factor for one or more specific zones; areplacement irrigation schedule; adjustments to specific zones, wherethe adjustments may be different for each zone and not all zones may beadjusted (e.g., based on zone priorities, options and the like); andother such adjustments as described above. In some instances, theadjustments can be determined by implementing some or all of one or moreof the processes 1310, 1510, 1610, 1710, 1810, 1870, 1910, 2010, 2110,2210, 2610, 2650, 3910 and 4010 or other processes. Additionally, insome implementations, the adjustments are used to calculate an adjustedpredicted volumetric water usage over the budget period of time, and theadjusted predicted volumetric water usage is evaluated relative to thevolumetric water budget to confirm that adjustments are predicted toresult in a volumetric water usage within the volumetric water budget.With one or more adjustments determined, the process 4110 advances tostep 4118 to automatically output signaling to effect the one or moreadjustments. The signaling can depend on the form of adjustment, may bedirect or indirect signaling, may be internal or external signaling,communicated within an irrigation controller 130, communicated to anirrigation controller 130, communicated over a network, outputtedinternally to a scheduling or other relevant functional part of theirrigation controller, and/or other such signaling.

The process 4110 can be implemented at the local site or site location,such as through an irrigation controller 130, a display device 324,central irrigation controller 752, a computer or other relevant device.Alternatively or additionally, some or all of the process 4110 can beimplemented by a remote device or system, such as a remote centralirrigation controller 752, a distributed irrigation controller 782, awater authority 626, a third party server 630 or service, or other suchdevices or systems. For example, a water authority 626 may be coupledwith an AMI network of distributed meters to receive water usageinformation for one or more sites. Based on this information, the waterauthority may determine whether a volumetric water budget is expected tobe met or may forward the information to a third party (e.g., thirdparty server 630) to determine whether a volumetric water budget isexpected to be met. Based on the determination, the water authority (orother third party) can determine adjustments or instruct a third partyto determine the adjustments. The adjustments can then be forwarded tothe irrigation controller 130 at the site of interest. Further, in someinstances, a third party (e.g., the water authority) may additionallyconsider an aggregate volumetric water use in a given geographiclocation, such as taking into consideration the ability of a waterdelivery system to simultaneously deliver water to a plurality ofhouses, apartments, apartment buildings, businesses, factories and/orother such commercial sites, parks, municipalities and/or other suchsites, when considering whether adjustments are to be implemented (e.g.,delaying activation of irrigation, time shifting the irrigation, spacingactivation of different zones, and/or other such actions). Similarly, athird party device, such as a third party server 630, can be incommunication with a network of meters 122, receive information from anirrigation controller 130, receive information from a display device 324or a computer, evaluate volumetric water usage relative to volumetricwater budget for a site of interest, determine adjustments to irrigationwhen relevant, and issue adjustments to an irrigation controller 130,752, 782 when adjustments are to be implemented. In another example, acomputer or server remote from the site of interest can receiveinformation from a meter 122, the irrigation controller 130 at the site,the display device 324 or other relevant device (e.g., a computer at thesite and in communication with a meter 122 or irrigation controller130). The computer or server can then evaluate the use and determineadjustments when relevant, and forward those adjustments directly orindirectly to the irrigation controller 130 at the site. As such, theprocess 4110 provides for automated adjustments to irrigation schedulingin an attempt to optimize irrigation water usage relative to avolumetric water budget. These adjustments can be implemented withoutuser interaction based on volumetric water usage, predicted volumetricwater usage and/or estimated volumetric water usage relative to one ormore volumetric water budgets. The adjustments may, in some instances,further take into considerations user defined or entered priorities,restrictions and/or other such factors in determining adjustments.Additionally, when adjustments are determined by a device or systemseparate from the irrigation controller 130, the system or device canreceive information or be in communication with the irrigationcontroller 130 to receive information that can be used in determiningwhat adjustments to implement. This information can include, but is notlimited to, a number of zones being irrigated, types of deliverydevices, types of plant life, priorities, water pressure, flow rates,and/or other such information that can be considered in determiningadjustments.

Some embodiments, in automatically determining whether the volumetricwater usage is meeting the volumetric water budget, evaluate predictedvolumetric water usage. For example, a current water usage (e.g., interm of volume of water used) during the budget period of time can bedetermined as a function of received water usage information. Apredicted water usage (e.g., in terms of water volume) during the budgetperiod of time can then be calculated as a function of the determinedcurrent water usage as well as intended or predicted irrigation at theproperty or irrigation site during a remainder of the budget period oftime. The predicted water usage for the budget period of time can thenautomatically be evaluated to determine whether the predicted waterusage for the budget period of time is predicted to exceed thevolumetric water budget during the budget period of time. In thoseinstances where the predicted water usage is predicted not to exceed thevolumetric water budget, adjustments to irrigation are not implemented.Alternatively, a signal is automatically outputted to initiate adjusting(at an irrigation controller that controls irrigation over at least partof the property or irrigation site to be irrigated without userinteraction) irrigation and water usage during the budget period oftime. As such an adjusted predicted water usage over the budget periodof time (e.g., which can be calculated as a function of the determinedcurrent water usage and the adjusted irrigation) is predicted not toexceed the volumetric water budget during the budget period of time.

Again, the evaluation of the current volumetric water usage and/orpredicted volumetric water usage can be implemented local at theproperty where irrigation is being controlled, such as through anirrigation controller 130, a display device 324, central irrigationcontroller 752, a computer or other relevant device or combination ofsuch devices. Alternatively or additionally, predicted volumetric waterusage and/or evaluating volumetric water usage or predicted volumetricwater usage can be implemented by a remote device or system, such as aremote central irrigation controller 752, a distributed irrigationcontroller 782, a water authority 626, a third party server 630 orservice, or other such devices or systems. Further, the determination ofwhether a volumetric water usage might exceed a volumetric water budgetand/or adjustments relative to maintaining volumetric water usagerelative to one or more volumetric water budgets can be implementedwithout user interaction, and in many instances is based on volumetricwater usage, predicted volumetric water usage and/or estimatedvolumetric water usage relative to one or more volumetric water budgets.

Additionally, some embodiments identify one or more irrigation events,corresponding to the property or irrigation site, during a remainder ofthe water budget period of time, where an irrigation event is an eventidentified in which irrigation is predicted to be activated. In someembodiments, the budget period of time extends over multiple irrigationcycles. Based on the predicted irrigation events, an irrigation eventpredicted irrigation water usage can be calculated for each of theidentified one or more irrigation events. A summation of the irrigationevent predicted volumetric irrigation water usage of each of theidentified one or more irrigation events can be determined orcalculated.

A predicted water usage (e.g., in terms of water volume) can then bedetermined as a function of the received water usage information and thesum of the irrigation event predicted irrigation water usage. With thepredicted volumetric water usage, it can be determined whether thepredicted volumetric water usage is predicted to exceed the volumetricwater budget during the water budget period. In those instances wherepredicted water usage it is not predicted to exceed the volumetric waterbudget, no adjustments are needed based on the current evaluation.Alternatively, when it is predicted that the volumetric water budget maybe exceeded, a signal is outputted to initiate adjustments, at theirrigation controller, of irrigation for one or more of the irrigationevents when the predicted water usage is predicted to exceed thevolumetric water budget during the water budget period. Again, some orall of the calculations and/or evaluations can be implemented local atthe irrigation site or property where irrigation is being controlled,such as through an irrigation controller 130, a display device 324,central irrigation controller 752, a computer or other relevant deviceor combination of such devices. Alternatively or additionally, some orall of the calculations and/or evaluations can be implemented by aremote device or system, such as a remote central irrigation controller752, a distributed irrigation controller 782, a water authority 626, athird party server 630 or service, or other such devices or systems.Further, the determination of whether a water budget might exceed awater budget and/or adjustments relative to maintaining water usagerelative to one or more water budgets can be implemented without userinteraction, and typically is based on volumetric water usage, predictedvolumetric water usage and/or estimated volumetric water usage relativeto one or more volumetric water budgets.

The following generally describes one or more embodiments. It isunderstood that the invention is not limited to only these embodiments.Some embodiments provide methods of controlling irrigation that identifya budget period of time and identify a water budget dictating a fixedvolume of water that can be used during the budget period of time.Further, a measured water usage corresponding to water usage on aproperty where irrigation is to be controlled is receive, for example,received from a water meter. A current water usage is determined duringthe budget period of time from the measured water usage. A predictedwater usage during the budget period of time is calculated, for exampleat the irrigation controller, as a function of the current water usageand intended irrigation at the property during a remainder of the budgetperiod of time. It is determined, at the irrigation controller, whetherthe predicted water usage is predicted to exceed the water budget duringthe budget period of time. Adjustments are implemented, at theirrigation controller without user interaction, to irrigation and waterusage during the budget period of time such that the predicted waterusage over the budget period of time, calculated as a function of thecurrent water usage and the adjusted irrigation, is predicted not toexceed the water budget during the budget period of time.

In some instances, the measured water usage is received from a localwater meter present on the property where irrigation is to becontrolled. Further, some embodiments determine, from the measured waterusage, non-irrigation water usage, and the calculating of the predictedwater usage comprises: predicting non-irrigation water usage; predictingirrigation water usage; and summing the predicted non-irrigation waterusage and the predicted irrigation usage. Additionally or alternatively,the predicting the irrigation water usage can comprises identifying oneor more predicted irrigation events where an irrigation event is anevent identified in which irrigation is predicted to be activated; andpredicting irrigation water usage for each of the one or more identifiedpredicted irrigation events; and summing the predicted irrigation waterusage for the one or more identified predicted irrigation events.

Furthermore, in some embodiments the identification of the one or morepredicted irrigation events can comprise: predicting evapotranspiration(ET) values that correspond to one or more days potential irrigationevents remaining in the budget period of time; and determining, for eachof the one or more potential irrigation events remaining in the budgetperiod of time and from the predicted ET values corresponding to the oneor more potential irrigation events, whether irrigation is to beactivated. Similarly, some embodiments communicate a notification to adisplay device that the irrigation is to be adjusted, where the displaydevice is separate from an irrigation controller that implements andcontrols irrigation including the adjusting the irrigation such that thepredicted water usage over the budget period of time based on theadjustments does not exceed the water budget during the budget period oftime. Further, the communication of the notification can compriseproviding a predicted cost to exceed the water budget.

Other embodiments provide methods for use in irrigation control thatreceive, from a local water meter corresponding to a property whereirrigation is to be controlled by an irrigation controller, a volumewater use measurement at the property; determine, at the irrigationcontroller, a predicted volume water use for a remainder of a waterbudget time period; determine, using at least the volume water usemeasurement and the predicted volume water use, if actual water useduring the water budget time period will exceed an allowable waterbudget corresponding to the water budget time period; and automaticallyadjust, in the event the actual water use will exceed the allowablewater budget, irrigation during the remainder of the water budget timeperiod to ensure that the actual water use will not exceed the allowablewater budget.

Still other embodiments providing methods of controlling irrigationidentify a water budget period; identify a water budget for the waterbudget period; receive, at an irrigation controller controllingirrigation at a property, a water usage; identify one or more irrigationevents during a remainder of the water budget period, where anirrigation event is an event identified in which irrigation is predictedto be activated; calculate an irrigation event predicted irrigationwater usage for each of the identified one or more irrigation events;sum the irrigation event predicted irrigation water usage of each of theidentified one or more irrigation events; determine a predicted waterusage as a function of the current water usage and the sum of theirrigation event predicted irrigation water usage; determine, at theirrigation controller, whether the predicted water usage is predicted toexceed the water budget for the water budget period; and adjust, at theirrigation controller, irrigation to be implemented on one or more ofthe one or more irrigation events when the predicted water usage ispredicted to exceed the water budget for the water budget period.

Some embodiments further determine a predicted daily non-irrigationwater usage; and calculate a predicted non-irrigation water usage as afunction of the predicted daily non-irrigation water usage and aremainder of potential irrigation events during the remainder of thewater budget period; wherein the determination of the predicted waterusage comprises determining the predicted water usage as a function ofthe current water usage, the sum of the predicted irrigation water usageand the predicted non-irrigation water usage. Further, in someinstances, the adjustments to the irrigation can comprise identifying anexcess water usage as a function of the water budget and the predictedwater usage, where the excess water usage is an amount of waterpredicted to be used in excess of the water budget; identifying adistribution of the excess water usage over the identified one or morepredicted irrigation events; and adjusting, for each predictedirrigation event where the identified distribution of the excess waterdictates adjustments, predicted runtimes for one or more irrigationzones such that the predicted irrigation water usage is reduced by theidentified distributed excess water for the given predicted irrigationevent. Additionally, the identifying the distribution of the excesswater usage over the identified one or more predicted irrigation eventscan comprise: identifying priorities of irrigation zones; anddistributing the excess water usage as a function of the priorities ofthe irrigation zones.

Additionally or alternatively, some embodiments that provide methods ofcontrolling irrigation identify a budget period of time; identify awater budget dictating a fixed volume of water usable during the budgetperiod of time; receive, from a local water meter present on a propertywhere irrigation is to be controlled, a measured water usage; determinea current water usage during the budget period from the measured waterusage; determine whether the current water usage exceeds the waterbudget for the budget period; and generate a notification that the waterbudget is exceeded. In some implementations, these methods furthercalculate, in response to determining that the water usage does notexceed the water budget for the budget period, a predicted water usageduring the budget period as a function of the current water usage;determine whether the predicted water usage is greater than the waterbudget during the budget period; and generate a notification that thewater budget is predicted to be exceeded. Further, the generating thenotification that the water budget is predicted to be exceeded cancomprise providing a predicted cost to exceed the water budget. Theidentification of the water budget can, in some embodiments, furthercomprise: identifying a specified cost budget defining a cost for waterusage over the budget period; identifying a cost per unit volume ofwater; and calculating the water budget from the cost budget and thecost per unit volume.

Some embodiments also provide methods for use in irrigation control,where these methods receive, from a local water meter corresponding to aproperty where irrigation is to be controlled, a volume water usemeasurement at the property; determine, using at least the volume wateruse measurement, if actual water use during a water budget time periodwill exceed an allowable water budget corresponding to the water budgettime period; and generate, in the event the actual water use will exceedthe allowable water budget, a notification that the allowable waterbudget will be exceeded.

Other embodiments similarly provide methods of providing water usageinformation. These methods comprise: receiving, from a local water meterat a given property where water use is being evaluated, a measured waterusage; predicting, from a current time to an end of a budget period,irrigation water usage over a remainder of the budget period;predicting, from the current time, a non-irrigation water usage over theremainder of the budget period; and calculating a predicted water usageover the budget period as a function of the measured water usage, thepredicted irrigation water usage and the predicted non-irrigation waterusage.

Further, the predicting of the irrigation water usage can include:identifying one or more irrigation days during a remainder of the budgetperiod, where an irrigation day is a day identified in which irrigationis predicted to be activated; calculating an irrigation day predictedirrigation water usage for each of the identified one or more irrigationdays; and summing the irrigation day predicted irrigation water usage ofeach of the identified one or more irrigation days. Additionally oralternatively, the predicting the non-irrigation water usage cancomprise: determining a predicted daily non-irrigation water usage; andcalculating a predicted non-irrigation water usage as a function of thepredicted daily non-irrigation water usage and a remainder of daysduring the remainder of the budget period. In other embodiments thepredicting the irrigation water usage comprises: detecting that waterusage after irrigating a first zone is greater than a predictedirrigation water usage of the first zone; and subtracting an amount inexcess from the predicted irrigation water usage.

Still further, some embodiments include methods of providing water usageinformation, comprising: receiving, at a display device and directlyfrom an irrigation controller controlling irrigation at a property wherewater use is being determined, a predicted water usage for the givenproperty over a fixed budget period; identifying a water budget specificto the property and dictating a fixed volume of water usable at theproperty during the fixed budget period of time; displaying anotification, through the display device and when it is determined thatthe predicted water usage is predicted to exceed the water budget, thatthe water usage is predicted to exceed the water budget during thebudget period; and displaying a predicted cost in utilizing, at theproperty and over the budget period, the predicted water usage andexceeding the water budget, when it is determined that the predictedwater usage is predicted to exceed the water budget.

The displaying of the predicted cost can comprise: identifying a costper unit volume of water usage; calculating a cost to utilize thepredicted water usage by multiplying the cost per unit volume of waterby the predicted water usage; determining a penalty associated withexceeding the water budget; and summing the calculated cost to utilizethe predicted water usage and the penalty. Additionally oralternatively, the displaying the predicted cost can comprise:determining whether there is a second cost per unit volume to be appliedto water usage in excess of the water budget; calculating an excess costto utilize the predicted water usage by multiplying the second cost perunit volume by the predicted water usage in excess of the water budget;and summing the excess cost to utilize the predicted water usage withthe sum of the calculated cost to utilize the predicted water usage andthe penalty. In some instances, the displaying the predicted costcomprises: determining whether the water budget is a first tier of aplurality of budget tiers; detecting that the predicted water usage atthe property is predicted to exceed a second tier water budget duringthe budget period of time; identifying a second cost per unit volume ofwater usage in excess of the water budget and less then the second tierwater budget; and calculating the cost to utilize the predicted waterusage by multiplying the cost per unit volume of water by the predictedwater usage and adding the results with the results of multiplying thesecond cost per unit volume of water by the predicted water usage inexcess of the water budget.

Other embodiments provide methods of controlling water usage thatcomprise: predicting, at an irrigation controller that controlsirrigation over a give property, a water usage over a selected period oftime, where the predicting comprises predicting prior to the selectedperiod of time; determining, at the irrigation controller, water usageover the selected period of time; determining, at the irrigationcontroller, whether the determined water usage has a thresholddifference from the predicted water usage over the selected period oftime; and generating a notification that a leak is detected.

Further, the determining the water usage over the selected period oftime can comprise determining the water usage while irrigation is notactive. Additionally or alternatively, the determining the water usagecan comprise detecting a consistent water usage over multiple differentperiods of time, including the selected period of time. In someinstances, determining water usage over the selected period of time cancomprise: determining water usage during an irrigation of a zone;determining that the water usage during irrigation of the zone exceeds apredicted water usage for the irrigation zone; and determining whether adifference between the water usage during the irrigation of the zone anda predicted water usage for the irrigation zone is consistent with apreviously measured difference between a previous water usage during aprevious irrigation of the zone and the predicted water usage.

Further embodiments include methods of controlling costs relative towater usage. Some of these embodiments comprise: identifying a budgetperiod of time; identifying a water budget dictating a fixed volume ofwater usable during the fixed budget period of time; receiving, at anirrigation controller configured to control irrigation over a givenproperty, a measured water usage of water used at the property;determining, at the irrigation controller, a water usage over the budgetperiod as a function of the received measured water usage; determiningwhether the water usage over the budget period is less than the waterbudget; determining an amount of unused water as a function of the waterbudget and the water usage when the water usage over the budget periodis less than the water budget; and obtaining a monetary benefitproportional to the determined unused water.

In some implementations, the obtaining the monetary benefit proportionalto the determined unused water comprises selling the unused water.Additionally, in some instances, the selling the unused water canadditionally comprise obtaining credits for each volume of unused water,and selling the credits to a third party. Obtaining the monetary benefitproportional to the determined unused water can further comprisereceiving a reduction in cost for the water usage over the budgetperiod. Alternatively or additionally, receiving the reduction is thecost for the water usage over the budget period comprises receiving areduction in cost at a first rate per unit volume of unused water thatis greater than a cost at a second rate per unit volume of the waterusage over the budget period. Some embodiments, in obtaining themonetary benefit proportional to the determined unused water furtherreceive an increase in a subsequent water budget proportional to thedetermined unused water.

Some embodiments provide methods of controlling costs relative to waterusage, comprising: receiving a notification that water usage at aproperty was less than a volumetric water budget during a budget period;receiving information identifying an amount of under used water relativeto the water budget as a result that the water usage at the property wasless than the water budget during the budget period; and obtaining amonetary benefit proportional to the determined under used water.Further, some of these embodiments in obtaining the monetary benefitproportional to the determined under used water comprise selling theunder used water. Additionally or alternatively, the selling of theunder used water can comprise obtaining credits for each volume of underused water, and selling the credits to a third party.

Still further embodiments include methods of controlling irrigation.These methods comprise: receiving water usage measurements; correlating,at the irrigation controller, the measured water usage with irrigationruntimes; predicting water usage as a function of the correlatedmeasured water usage and the irrigation runtimes; and determiningwhether adjustments to irrigation are needed as a function of thepredicted water usage. The correlating, in some implementations, furthercomprises: correlating the measured water usage with evapotranspiration(ET) data corresponding to the measured water usage; and the predictingthe water usage further comprises predicting the water usage as afunction of predicted ET and the correlation of water usage to the ETdata. Additionally or alternatively, the correlating can furthercomprise: correlating the measured water usage with an irrigation timeto achieve a desired water delivery, where the irrigation time isduration where active irrigation is implemented to achieve the desiredwater delivery.

In some of these embodiments, the methods further comprise: receivingsensor data; and the predicting the water usage comprises predicting theirrigation time to achieve the desired water delivery comprisesdetermining a time over the active irrigation until a water level withinsoil is obtained. Further, the receiving sensor data may includereceiving soil moisture data. The predicting the irrigation time toachieve the desired water delivery, in some embodiments, furthercomprises: identifying a soil moisture level prior to initiating theactive irrigation; and the correlating the measured water usage with theirrigation time comprises correlating difference in soil moisture levelswith the irrigation time. Further, in some implementations, thecorrelating the measured water usage comprises correlating a range ofsoil moisture levels with an irrigation time. Additionally oralternatively, the correlating can comprise: correlating the measuredwater usage with an irrigation time to achieve a desired water delivery,where the irrigation time is a duration where active irrigation isimplemented to achieve the desired water delivery. Other embodimentsfurther comprise: receiving sensor data; and predicting the irrigationtime to achieve the desired water delivery comprises determining a timeover the active irrigation until a water level within the soil isobtained.

Additional embodiments provide methods of controlling irrigation. Theseembodiments comprise: receiving water usage measurements; correlatingmeasured water usage with evapotranspiration (ET) data that correspondsto the measured water usage; predicting water usage as a function of thecorrelated measured water usage and the ET data; and determining whetheradjustments to irrigation are needed as a function of the predictedwater usage. The predicting of the water usage, in some instances,comprises predicting an ET value as a function of an ET value for abudget period. The budget period, in some embodiments, is a month.Further, the predicting the ET value, in some embodiments, comprisesdetermining predicted daily ET values by dividing the ET value for thebudget period by a number of days in the budget period; and predictingthe water usage as a function of one or more of the predicted daily ETvalues. In some implementations, the correlating the measured waterusage with the ET comprises: identifying a measured amount of waterdelivered for a previous given period; determining an ET for the givenperiod; and correlating a unit of ET to a unit of measured water.Further, some embodiments additionally comprise: receiving sensor data;determining a time to achieve a desired water delivery, where the timeis measured from an initiation of irrigation for a given geographicregion until the irrigation is terminated.

Alternatively or additionally, some embodiments further comprise:receiving sensor data; determining a time to achieve a desired waterdelivery, where the time is measured when active irrigation isimplemented to achieve the desired water delivery at a given geographicregion; determining a measured water usage as a function of the time toachieve the desired water delivery; and correlating the measured waterusage with the sensor data. In some embodiments, the receiving sensordata comprises receiving soil moisture data; the time to achieve thedesired water delivery is measured during the active irrigation until awater level within the soil is obtained; and the correlating themeasured water usage with the sensor data comprises correlatingdifference in soil moisture levels with the irrigation time. Further,the geographic region can comprise one or more of: an irrigation zone; aregion proximate a soil sensor; and a region having soil conditionssubstantially the same as soil conditions of a region proximate a soilsensor.

Other embodiments provide methods of controlling irrigation, comprising:receiving water usage measurements; correlating measured water usagewith an irrigation time to achieve a desired water delivery, where theirrigation time is a duration where active irrigation is implemented toachieve the desired water delivery; and adjusting irrigation as afunction of the correlated measured water usage and the irrigationruntimes. Some of these embodiments further comprise: receiving sensordata; and determining the irrigation time to achieve the desired waterdelivery comprises determining a time over the active irrigation until awater level within the soil is obtained. The receiving sensor data, insome instances, comprises receiving soil moisture data. Further, thedetermination of the irrigation time to achieve the desired waterdelivery can further comprise identifying a soil moisture level prior toinitiating the active irrigation; and the correlating the measured waterusage with the irrigation time can comprise correlating the differencein soil moisture levels with the irrigation time. In some embodiments,the correlating the measured water usage comprises correlating a rangeof soil moisture levels with an irrigation time. Additionally oralternatively, the irrigation time can comprise a sum of two or moreirrigation runtimes separated by a non-active irrigation time whereirrigation was not active.

Some embodiments provide systems, processes and/or methods ofcontrolling irrigation. In some embodiments, methods are provided thatidentify a budget period and a water budget; receive a measured waterusage from a meter; determine a current water usage during the budgetperiod; calculate a predicted water usage during the budget period;determine whether the predicted water usage is predicted to exceed thewater budget during the budget period; and adjust irrigation to reducewater usage during the budget period such that the predicted water usageover the budget period is predicted not to exceed the water budgetduring the budget period.

Several embodiments provide methods of controlling irrigation, at leastin part, by identifying a water budget dictating a fixed volume of waterthat can be used during the budget period of time; receiving a waterusage corresponding to water usage on a property where irrigation is tobe controlled; determining a current water usage during the budgetperiod of time as a function of the received water usage; calculating apredicted water usage during the budget period of time as a function ofthe determined current water usage and intended irrigation at theproperty during a remainder of the budget period of time; determiningwhether the predicted water usage is predicted to exceed the waterbudget during the budget period of time; and outputting a signal toinitiate adjusting, at an irrigation controller that controls irrigationover at least part of the property to be irrigated without userinteraction and in response to determining that the predicted waterusage is predicted to exceed the water budget during the budget periodof time, irrigation and water usage during the budget period of timesuch that an adjusted predicted water usage over the budget period oftime, calculated as a function of the determined current water usage andthe adjusted irrigation, is predicted not to exceed the water budgetduring the budget period of time.

Other embodiments provide methods of controlling irrigation byidentifying a water budget period; identifying a water budget for thewater budget period; receiving a water usage for a property whereirrigation is to be controlled by an irrigation controller; identifying,corresponding to the property, one or more irrigation events during aremainder of the water budget period, where an irrigation event is anevent identified in which irrigation is predicted to be activated;calculating an irrigation event predicted irrigation water usage foreach of the identified one or more irrigation events; summing theirrigation event predicted irrigation water usage of each of theidentified one or more irrigation events; determining a predicted waterusage as a function of the received water usage and the sum of theirrigation event predicted irrigation water usage; determining whetherthe predicted water usage is predicted to exceed the water budget duringthe water budget period; and outputting a signal to initiate adjusting,at the irrigation controller, irrigation to be implemented on one ormore of the one or more irrigation events when the predicted water usageis predicted to exceed the water budget during the water budget period.

While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means ofspecific embodiments, examples and applications thereof, numerousmodifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled inthe art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth inthe claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of controlling irrigation, the methodcomprising: receiving water usage information corresponding to a firstvolumetric water usage at a site location having an irrigationcontroller, wherein the first volumetric water usage corresponds tovolumetric water usage from a beginning of a budget period of time to afirst time within the budget period of time; determining automaticallywhether a volumetric water budget at the site location will be met forthe budget period of time based on at least the first volumetric waterusage, the volumetric water budget corresponding to a specified volumeof water for use during the budget period of time; determiningautomatically, in the event the volumetric water budget will not be met,an adjustment to the irrigation by the irrigation controller, whereinthe adjustment comprises a reduction of runtimes of remaining irrigationevents scheduled to occur during the budget period of time such that theadjustment substantially spreads a compensation for an amount of waterusage that will exceed the volumetric water budget over the remainingirrigation events; and outputting signaling to effect the adjustment. 2.The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving step comprises: receivingthe water usage information taken by a water meter at the site locationand corresponding to the first volumetric water usage at the sitelocation having the irrigation controller.
 3. The method of claim 1wherein the budget period of time spans multiple irrigation cyclesimplemented by the irrigation controller.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the first volumetric water usage during the budget period oftime comprises an accumulation of volumetric water usage at least fromtwo or more of the multiple irrigation cycles.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the determining automatically whether the volumetric waterbudget will be met step is performed at the irrigation controller. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein the determining automatically whether thevolumetric water budget will be met step is performed at a centralirrigation controller in communication with and at least partiallycontrolling the irrigation controller.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe determining automatically whether the volumetric water budget willbe met step is performed at a remote server remote from the irrigationcontroller and the site location.
 8. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: determining automatically a predicted volumetric water usageat the site location, the predicted volumetric water usage is based atleast on the first volumetric water usage and a second volumetric waterusage predicted for a remainder of the budget period of time; whereinthe determining automatically whether the volumetric water budget at thesite location will be met step comprises: determining automaticallywhether the volumetric water budget at the site location will be met forthe budget period of time based on at least the predicted volumetricwater usage.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the waterusage information comprises receiving user inputted information used todetermine the water usage information.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the water usage information is based on known water flow rateinformation corresponding to one or more irrigation components at thesite location.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:communicating a notification that the irrigation is to be adjusted. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein the communicating the notificationcomprises providing a predicted cost to exceed the water budget.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the communicating the notification causesthe notification to be displayed on a display that is part of theirrigation controller.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein thecommunicating the notification comprises communicating the notificationto a display device that comprises a display, where the display deviceis separate from the irrigation controller.
 15. The method of claim 1,further comprising communicating information relevant to the firstvolumetric water usage at the site location to a display causing theinformation relevant to the first volumetric water usage to bedisplayed.
 16. An apparatus for use in controlling irrigation,comprising: a processor; and a memory that stores executable programcode, wherein the processor is configured to execute the executableprogram code to: receive water usage information corresponding to afirst volumetric water usage at a site location having an irrigationcontroller, wherein the first volumetric water usage corresponds tovolumetric water usage from a beginning of a budget period of time to afirst time within the budget period of time; determine automaticallywhether a volumetric water budget at the site location will be met forthe budget period of time based on at least the first volumetric waterusage, the volumetric water budget corresponding to a specified volumeof water for use during the budget period of time; determineautomatically, in the event the volumetric water budget will not be met,an adjustment to irrigation by the irrigation controller, wherein theadjustment comprises a reduction of runtimes of remaining irrigationevents scheduled to occur during the budget period of time such that theadjustment substantially spreads a compensation for an amount of waterusage that will exceed the volumetric water budget over the remainingirrigation events; and output signaling to effect the adjustment. 17.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the budget period of time spansmultiple irrigation cycles implemented by the irrigation controller. 18.The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the processor is configured to receivethe water usage information, wherein the water usage information istaken by a water meter at the site location and corresponding to thefirst volumetric water usage at the site location having the irrigationcontroller.
 19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor isfurther configured to execute the executable program code to: determineautomatically a predicted volumetric water usage at the site location,the predicted volumetric water usage is based at least on the firstvolumetric water usage and a second volumetric water usage predicted fora remainder of the budget period of time; wherein the processor isfurther configured to determine automatically whether the volumetricwater budget at the site location will be met for the budget period oftime based on at least the predicted volumetric water usage.
 20. Theapparatus of claim 16, further comprising: a display devicecommunicationally coupled with the processor, wherein the display deviceis configured to display information corresponding to the firstvolumetric water usage.